She is 'woman of taste', reads Sukesh's wife's bail plea in SC; hearing on Monday

The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a special leave petition (SLP) filed by alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar's wife Leena Paulsoe against the Delhi High Court order denying bail to her in a Rs 200-crore extortion case.

Paulsoe has been in judicial custody since September 5, 2021.

Delhi High Court denied bail to her in July 2023.

The SLP has called the chargesheet as well as the Supplementary Chargesheets filed against her a result of a "highly biased and prejudiced investigation".

"... the whole case built is merely established on the assumption that she, being the wife of the main accused, had full knowledge of the offence being committed by her husband along with his allies and the money being transferred to her are the proceeds of crime generated through the offencee. It is pertinent to mention that just because the Petitioner herein was in constant touch with the main accused as he is her husband, does not in any way establish the fact that she had knowledge of the offence being committed by them," the petition read.

The petition further states that the prosecution has failed to establish a direct link between the proceeds of crime and luxury items Paulsoe possessed.

"... luxury items under her possession simply show that she is a woman of taste. It is noteworthy to mention that till now the prosecution has failed to establish a direct link between the proceeds of crime and the items under the possession of the Petitioner herein," the petition read.

The SLP also states that the prosecution is unable to establish the chain of how the tainted money has been parked/ laundered/ converted into legitimate money and their investigation qua this aspect is still underway.

Moreover, all the transactions of the Petitioner herein were through banking channels and were totally transparent.

"It is pertinent to mention that the Court has simply overlooked the fact that the Petitioner has a well-established business set-up and has strong ties within the community thereby eliminating the possibility of the Petitioner absconding, tampering evidence or influencing witnesses, and fulfilling the triple test and the stringent criteria for grant of bail specified in Section 21(4) of the MCOCA and had dismissed the bail application of the petitioner herein," the SLP read.

The apex court bench headed by Justices Anirudh Bose and Justice Bela Trivedi will hear this SLP on Monday.

Delhi HC in July rejected the bail pleas moved by Paulsoe and co-accused persons Kamlesh Kothari and B. Mohan Raj.

While denying bail to all three, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma observed that the court was not able to persuade itself on the basis of the material on record that the accused were not guilty of the crime.

Delhi HC further noted that the record indicated that Paulsoe was involved in the organised crime syndicate and that it was unbelievable that such huge amounts of money were coming in her account and she was just accepting them as a "dutiful wife".

The Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested actor Paulsoe for allegedly supporting her husband Sukesh Chandrasekar, in cases of duping.

The EOW has alleged that Paulsoe, Chandrasekar along with 14 others accused used Hawala routes and created shell companies to park the money earned from the proceeds of crime.

An FIR was filed against Chandrasekhar for allegedly duping the spouses of former promoters of Ranbaxy, Shivinder Singh, and Malvinder Singh, of Rs 200 crore.

It is alleged that Chandrasekar had duped Shivinder's wife Aditi Singh and Malvinder's wife Japna Singh worth several crores of rupees to secure bail for their husbands and ensure their safety while posing as an officer from the Union Law Ministry.

The alleged conman is also facing investigations in several cases across the country.