The police custody of businessman and actress Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra has been extended till July 27. Kundra was arrested earlier this week in a case involving pornographic films. The case was registered against Kundra for creating and publishing pornographic films on certain apps. On July 20, a Mumbai court had sent Kundra into the custody of police till July 23.
Kundra's business associate Ryan Thorpe was also arrested on July 19 in the case involving pornographic films. Both were produced before the Magistrate Court on Friday and their custody was extended. Mumbai Police had sought an extension of their custody to investigate the matter further.
The police had earlier told the court that the 45-year-old businessman was gaining financially from the illegal activity of making and selling pornographic material.
The police had claimed they have seized Kundra's mobile phone and its contents need to be scrutinised and also his business dealings and transactions have to be looked into.
Kundra has been accused of managing a mobile application that streamed pornographic content on it. He was overseeing the content on the platform as well as managing the financials, Mumbai police had explained earlier.
The police have explained that Kundra's Mumbai-based firm Vivaan Industries was involved with UK-based company Kenrin Pvt Ltd which has been under the police's scanner since February 2021. Kenrin Pvt Ltd is a production firm that is owned by Raj Kundra's brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi.
Kenrin Pvt Ltd owns the 'Hotshots' phone application on which pornographic content was streamed. Raj Kundra's brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi has been named as a wanted accused in the case.
Earlier, Joint CP (Crime) Milind Bharambe has told reporters that the decision to arrest Raj Kundra was taken on Monday after the police had conducted a search of Viaan Industries in Andheri (West), Mumbai. "In the search operation, our team found evidence of WhatsApp conversations, accounting sheets, e-mail and pornographic clips that clearly show that it was Kundra who was actually running the pornographic app 'Hotshots' through his company, Viaan Industries. Hence, we summoned him for questioning and decided to place him under arrest," Bharambe had explained.
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