The Bombay Police Crime Branch has filed an additional indictment in the case of pornography related to businessman Raj Kundra. Shilpa Shetty Kundra actor’s husband Raj Kundra was arrested in July this year for allegedly producing erotic films.
A total of nine people were named in the first charge sheet of this case, filed in April this year.
In the additional indictment filed Wednesday before the Esplanade court, the Crime Branch has appointed four people, including Raj Kundra and Ryan Thorpe, the head of IT at Kundra’s Viaan Enterprises firm.
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The other two people mentioned in the indictment have been identified as aliases of Yash Thakur, Arvind Shrivastava, who is said to reside in Singapore, and Pradeep Bakshi, a brother-in-law of Raj Kundra based in London.
Bombay police have also frozen a sum of 6.5 million rupees in bank accounts with links to accused Arvind Shrivastava.
Crime branch officials said this supplementary indictment sheet is 1,467 pages and includes statements from up to 43 witnesses. Of the 43, five witness statements were recorded before a magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC.
What is the case?
The case of pornography related to businessman Raj Kundra and companies owned by him came to light in February this year when the Mumbai police branch attacked a bungalow in the Madh area of Mumbai.
Officials had told the media at the time that the raid took place following a warning from the Mumbai police property cell.
During the raid, two women were found shooting for a pornographic film in the bungalow. Another young woman who was forced to shoot for the film was rescued by officials.
Raj Kundra was taken to court in Bombay on July 27, 2021 | PTI
Subsequent investigation into the case led to the arrest of Umesh Kamat, who police believe worked as a manager of a company owned by Raj Kundra.
The Mumbai police branch has accused Raj Kundra of producing around 100 pornographic films. These films were bought and shipped to the UK where they were hung on a pay-per-view app that had about 20 lakh of subscribers.
Officials claim that Raj Kundra earned almost 1.17 million euros through his “Hotshots” app between August and December 2020.