Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra arrested in porn apps case

The Mumbai police crime branch Monday arrested businessman Raj Kundra for being the alleged “key conspirator” in a case of making pornographic films and publishing them through mobile applications.

Kundra is the husband of actor and businesswoman Shilpa Shetty.

The Property Cell of the Mumbai crime branch had in February this year registered an FIR in connection with the case and arrested nine persons soon after. Kundra’s name came up during the interrogation of the accused, police officers said.

On Monday, Kundra was summoned for questioning, following which he was placed under arrest. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said, “We have arrested Raj Kundra in this case on 19/7/21 as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidences regarding this. Investigation is in progress.”

Nagrale said the arrest was in connection with the case registered with Crime Branch Mumbai in February this year about making pornographic films and publishing them through some mobile apps.

In the racket busted by the crime branch, the police had said women were lured into acting in pornographic movies with promises of roles in web series.

Some of the accused arrested were owners of streaming platforms where these porn films were available for viewing with a subscription fee. An officer said that Kundra’s name came up in connection with his links to one of the companies involved in showcasing such movies on digital platforms.

Apart from the case by Mumbai police, Kundra’s name had also cropped up in a similar case that had been registered by the Maharashtra Cyber police last year. In that case, Kundra had filed for anticipatory bail and the court is likely to decide on his application next week.

What is the case in which Raj Kundra has been arrested?

On February 4 of this year, the Mumbai police said they had arrested five people for allegedly forcing women into porn movies. They would promise these aspiring actresses, who came to Mumbai from various parts of the country, roles in web series. However, on the day of the shoot, they would change the script and threaten the women to expose themselves. If the women refused, they were asked to foot the bill for the shooting preparations.

How and where were these movies shot?

According to policemen, it would normally be a daylong shoot at a rented bungalow on the outskirts of Mumbai, like Madh Island. There would be a minimal staff of five to six people who would double up as directors, dialogue writers, locations scouters and web app developers. These apps became especially popular during the lockdown, with some having a subscriber base in lakhs, said the police.

What does the police say was the role of Raj Kundra?

There were two aspects of the police probe. One was nabbing those who produced these porn shows and the other focused on those who broadcast these clips. Some of these production houses broadcast from servers outside the country.

One such UK production house, found to be uploading such content, came under the police scanner and its executive Umesk Kamat was arrested. An officer said that it was Kundra’s alleged connection to Kamat and the company that uploaded such pornographic content that landed him in trouble.

Are any other similar cases pending against Kundra?

Kundra had applied for anticipatory bail last month in connection with a case registered by the Maharashtra Cyber police last year. In that case too, the Cyber police had registered an FIR against various platforms which they said were involved in showcasing pornographic content. The court is likely to decide on the anticipatory bail application next week. (Indian Express)

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