Shilpa Shetty’s husband and businessman Raj Kundra’s arrest in the pornography case has stunned Bollywood. The Mumbai Police said that Kundra was involved in the creation and publishing of pornographic content on apps. They have also urged other ‘victims’ in the case to come forward and register their complaints.
The Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police, Milind Bharambe, at a press conference on Tuesday also commented on Shilpa Shetty’s role in the pornography case. He said that they have not found ‘any active role’ of Shilpa in the case, however, the investigation is still on.
As per ANI, Bharambe was quoted as saying, “We have not been able to any find any active role (of Shilpa Shetty) yet. We are investigating. We’ll appeal to the victims to come forward and contact the Crime Branch Mumbai. We’ll take appropriate action.”
Following the investigations by the Malvani Police and later by the Crime Branch-CID and Property Cell, at least 12 arrests have been made so far, including Kundra, his techie associate Ryan J. Tharpe, who were remanded to police custody till July 23 by a Mumbai Magistrate Court.
The nine persons arrested earlier include TV actress Gehna Vashisht, Yasmin R. Khan, Monu Joshi, Pratibha Nalavade, M. Atif Ahmed, Dipankar P. Khasnavis, Bhanusurya Thakur, Tanvir Hashmi, and Umesh Kamath who is the producer looking after the operations of ‘Hotshots’ in India
Raj Kundra’s app, HotShots is described as the “world's first 18+ app" showcasing some of the hottest models and celebs globally in exclusive photos, short films and hot videos -- implying soft-to-hard porn.
The first complaint against Kundra was filed in February 2021 when the police found out that “new or aspiring actresses coming to Mumbai from all over India were lured with work offers in short films, webseries and other movies” and then after selection, they were made to do bold scenes, which went onto semi-nude and then full-nude shoots.
Raj Kundra is booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 34 (common intention), 292, and 293 (related to obscene and indecent advertisements and displays), and relevant sections of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
(With agency inputs)
