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Cops say Kundra made Rs 1.17 cr from 'porn' app; no clean chit to Shilpa yet

July 28, 2021 02:14 IST

The Mumbai crime branch has appointed forensic auditors to look into the financial transactions and bank accounts of businessman Raj Kundra, arrested in an adult films case, a police official said on Tuesday.

 

IMAGE: Raj Kundra. Photograph: Deepak Salvi/ANI Photo

Also, no clean chit has been given yet to Kundra's wife, Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, in the case, he said.

The bank accounts under the lens include one joint account of Kundra's Viaan Industries, a company at the centre of the alleged porn racket, and where Shilpa Shetty was a director, the official said.

There are some bank accounts of Kundra in which money was deposited from overseas , he said.

So far, investigators have not found flow of money into any of the bank accounts operated by Shilpa Shetty from those which are under the lens, the official said.

"But as this is a part of the investigation and analysis of accounts is on, there is no clean chit yet for Shetty," he maintained.

"We have nothing to do with any personal bank account," the official said.

Kundra was arrested by the crime branch on July 19 in the case related to alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through apps.

The 45-year-old businessman earned at least Rs 1.17 crore between August and December last year from his business of production and online distribution of porn films, the police told a magistrate's court earlier in the day.

The magistrate's court later remanded Kundra in judicial custody for 14 days.

Kundra has contended that the films made by him, which the police claimed to be pornographic, did not depict direct or explicit sexual acts.

Seeking extension of his custody, Mumbai Police told a court on Tuesday that Kundra earned at least Rs 1.17 crore between August and December last year from his business of production and online distribution of porn films.

While the magistrate's court remanded Kundra in judicial custody for 14 days, the Bombay high court refused to give him any urgent temporary relief.

'Interrogation of Ryan Thorpe, another accused in the case, revealed that revenue from Hotshots (an online app or platform through which alleged porn content was made available) was Rs 1,17,64,886 ($ 1,58,057) between August and December 2020,' the remand plea of the police said.

This revenue was earned from the app on Apple store and the police have sought information from Google too, it said.

The app had more users on Google Play than the Apple store before it was removed, so he must have earned much more revenue, the police claimed.

The investigators also wanted to scrutinise the documents recovered from nine files seized from Kundra's office during a search on July 24, the remand application said.

While the statement of a woman (who alleged that she was tricked into acting in a porn film) was recorded on July 26, more victims were likely to come forward, the police told the court.

But the court, which had granted one extension of the custody earlier, rejected the police's plea and sent Kundra in judicial custody for 14 days.

His lawyers Abad Ponda and Subhash Jadhav then filed a bail application, contending that he should be released as investigation was over.

The application will be heard in due course.

Meanwhile, the Bombay HC on Tuesday refused to give urgent relief to Kundra.

Justice A S Gadkari directed the police to file their reply by July 29 in response to a petition filed by Kundra challenging his arrest.

His lawyers argued that the police failed to follow the procedure. They should have first issued a notice to him, asking him to be present to record a statement, instead of arresting him directly, advocates Ponda and Jadhav said.

Prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai said a notice was issued to him. The HC asked Pai to file an affidavit but refused to give an interim relief to Kundra before hearing the police.

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