Pornographic racketeering case: Raj Kundra gets 50,000 rupees bail, Shilpa Shetty relieved

India

oi-Prakash KL

Bombay, September 20: Two months after his arrest, businessman Raj Kundra, husband of famous Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, was released on bail by a Mumbai court on Monday (September 20) in the pornographic racketeering case. The court asked him to pay Rs 50,000 bail for his release.

On Saturday, Kundra filed for bail claiming there was not a single piece of evidence in the additional indictment demonstrating his active involvement in the racketeering.

This came after the criminal branch filed an additional 1,467-page indictment against Raj Kundra and three others, including Ryan Thorpe, the IT manager of Viaan Industries in Kundra, in connection with the alleged racketeering case of porn movies, last week.

The indictment includes 40 statements, including that of Raj Kundra’s wife, Shilpa Shetty. However, he mentions that the businessman’s brother-in-law, Pradeep Bakshi, is on the run. Emails, WhatsApp chats, 24 hard drive details, bank details, and Hotshots app information are part of the load sheet.

The indictment accused Kundra of exploiting young women in the film industry and said the pornographic material was sold by subscription. He earned Rs 1.17 crore from Hotshots app subscribers on the Apple App Store between August and December 2020.

In his bail plea, Raj Kundra claimed that he had been made a scapegoat in the case as there was not a single iota of evidence to date with the prosecution that would link the application. ” Hotshots “to a violation of the law.

Raj Kundra and Ryan Thorpe were arrested on July 19 after the case came to light in February 2021 following a raid on a bungalow in West Mumbai. Kundra was reserved under sections 354 (C) (Voyeurism), 292 (sale of obscene content), 293 (sale of obscene material to persons under the age of 20), 420 (deception), 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC and Articles 66E, 67, 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material) of the Computer Law and Articles of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986.

The Hotshots app is owned by Kenrin Private Limited and Ra Kundra is accused of managing the app. Kundra’s company, Arms Prime Media Ltd, developed it before selling it to Kendrin Private Limited, owned by Kundra’s brother-in-law, Pradeep Bakshi.