Businessman and Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court in a case related to the alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps.
Meanwhile, Kundra moved the court for bail hearing and same will be happen on Wednesday. It has also emerged that Shilpa Shetty and Kundra had a huge argument when the Crime Branch raided their home, following which the actress broke down in tears, saying she was unaware of her husband’s actions, Mumbai Police sources said. “She asked him what was the need of doing such things when they achieved a standing in society,” they added.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesday said that Shilpa Shetty has not yet been given a clean chit in the pornography racket case where her husband Raj Kundra is the prime accused. “Shilpa Shetty has not been given a clean chit yet. All the possibilities and angles are being probed. Forensic auditors have been appointed and they are looking into the transactions of all the accounts in this case. This audit may take some time as it is a lengthy process, but until the audit is complete, no clean chit to anyone,” the officials said. The officials also mentioned that actor Sherlyn Chopra has been called to provide a statement as a witness in the case.
Seeking more days of police custody, Mumbai police had submitted, “There was Rs 1.13 crore in Kotak Mahindra Bank account, Citibank and Kotak Mahindra bank accounts have been frozen. Kundra’s hard disk, server, phones, electronic devices were seized and police wants to interrogate and investigate more. Forensic auditor has been appointed and is investigating the case. A huge amount of data has been deleted and we need to retrieve the same. International transactions have come to light. Yash Thakur and Pardeep Bakshi are the accused in the case and need to be arrested. Thus, we stress upon the need for their custody. We have appointed forensic auditors to probe the case.” Kundra was produced before the magistrate court at the end of his police remand on Tuesday.
Mumbai Police has also appealed to the victims to come forward and speak up. Police will record their statements. Police has already recorded statements of two victims and they will summon more. The Mumbai Police has appealed to other victims to come forward and give information about the illegal acts committed against them and said they have already recorded the statements of two aggrieved women. Kundra has been charged with offences under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, IT Act and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
The crime branch also appointed a financial auditor to investigate the revenue from BollyFame and HotShots that produced alleged pornographic content. This report, once ready, will be shared with the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The auditor has also been asked to investigate a joint account held by Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra, from where several transactions took place related to the apps. The ED has stepped in and has asked for certain documents and an FIR copy from Mumbai Crime Branch in the Raj Kundra pornography case. Talking about the bail plea filed, senior counsel advocate Abad Ponda explained the grounds for bail and said, “Raj Kundra has been cooperative, he has been inside since long; the chargesheet has been filed long back in the case. There is no need for him to be behind bars. Hearing will happen on Wednesday.”
WITH AGENCY INPUTS