Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband and businessman Raj Kundra and others have been accused of creating pornographic content in some deluxe hotels, which were distributed by OTT platforms for pecuniary gain. Maharashtra Cyber Police gave this information. According to the cyber police charge sheet filed before a court last week, Kundra shot porn videos in five-star hotels along with models Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey, a filmmaker Meeta Jhunjhunwala and a cameraman Raju Dubey.
Earlier in 2021, the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police filed its separate charge sheet in April, followed by a supplementary charge sheet in September in the case, which came to light after the Madh Island Bungalow raid in February (2021).
Cyber police, which registered the case in 2019, has claimed that Raj Kundra, director of Armsprime Media Limited, was involved in creating and distributing obscene videos on some websites.
The 450-page chargesheet has named Suwajit Chowdhary of ‘Banana Prime OTT’ and Umesh Kamath, a staff member of Kundra, among others for producing a web series ‘Prem Paglani’ that produced pornographic content and uploaded it on the OTT .
Pandey is also accused of developing her own mobile app ‘The Poonam Pandey’, shooting, uploading and circulating the video with the help of Kundra’s company.
According to the cyber police, Dubey had also shot Chopra’s videos, while Jhunjhunwala is accused of aiding and abetting him (Chopra) in writing scripts and directing them.
Cyber police have claimed that Kundra’s company aided and abetted the crime. It took financial advantage from all the other co-accused though they knew that such things are illegal, even as they are looking for some other missing models who have acted in pornographic videos or web series.
After the high-profile case was unearthed by the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch, in which several accused were nabbed, Kundra was sent to two months’ custody before getting bail in September 2021.
Other accused include Ryan Thorpe, IT head of Kundra’s firm Vian Enterprises, Singapore-based Yash Thakur alias Arvind Srivastava and London-based Kundra’s brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi, who runs companies Kenrin and Hotshot.
The Mumbai Police, which had accused Kundra of making around 100 porn films, also froze Thakur’s bank accounts worth Rs 6.50 crore, and recorded statements of 43 witnesses in the case, according to its supplementary charge sheet in September 2021.
