Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s wife Leena Maria Paul reportedly gifted Janhvi Kapoor an an expensive bag and lakhs of rupees in July 2021. Sukesh, currently lodged in Tihar Jail, is being investigated in a Rs 200-crore extortion case by the Enforcement Directorate. ED investigation shows that Sukesh Chandrashekhar tried to influence several actresses through Pinky Irani, including Bhumi Pednekar, Sara Ali Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez. Some of them received the gifts, while others denied. In total, Sukesh has spent Rs 20 crores since 2015 on various actresses/models.
Besides Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi, Sukesh is said to have approached Janhvi Kapoor through his wife last year. Leena Maria Paul posed as the owner of a luxe nail salon – The Nail Artistry – and invited Janhvi Kapoor to inaugurate an outlet in Bengaluru on July 19, 2021, India Today TV reported. Janhvi was paid Rs 18.94 lakh and an expensive bag from a high-end luxury brand by Leena for attending the event. Janhvi, unaware of Sukesh and Leena’s criminal background, went to Bengaluru for the salon’s inauguration.
The report also said that Janhvi had submitted her bank account details to the Enforcement Directorate for verification. “She received payments to the tune of Rs 18.94 lakhs as professional fees in her bank account,” the sources added. This, according to sources in the ED, is the same money Sukesh had extorted from the wife of a Delhi businessman, sitting in his Tihar jail cell.
Janhvi told the probe agency in her statement that she had received a Christian Dior tote bag from Leena’s mother on the day of the event. But the actress reportedly had no contact with the conman himself. A friend of Janhvi has claimed that she never met Sukesh or spoke to him on the phone or on any other platform.
“Janhvi always had an agency managing all her work-related queries. This included any requests for appearances, any other event-related queries which she would always route through her managing agency at Dharma Cornerstone Agency (DCA) who she was signed up with in the past,” the friend said.
