Raj Kundra porn app case: Actor Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman Raj Kundra has been arrested in a case related to the alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps on Monday night. He has been remanded to police custody till July 23 by a Mumbai court. This comes after the crime branch made a case against him for making financial gains through this illegal business.
Speculations have been rife about Shetty's involvement in the case ever since her husband was picked up for interrogation by the Mumbai Police and subsequently arrested. However, Mumbai police are yet to investigate Shilpa Shetty role in the case.
Claiming that they have not been able to any find any link between Shetty and the ongoing case yet, joint commissioner of police (Crime), Milind Bharambe said last evening that Mumbai police are investigating her involvement, if any, as they will now start requesting the survivors to come forward and contact the Crime Branch. "We'll take appropriate action," Bharambe addressed the media on Tuesday over the arrest of Raj Kundra. He went on to say that "models were lured and promised roles" and later forced to act in pornographic films. The 45-year-old businessman is accused of streaming pornographic content shot in Mumbai and surrounding areas through a mobile phone application called Hotshots app.
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: Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Police, Mumbai pic.twitter.com/CBgHVs4cnk
— ANI (@ANI) July 20, 2021
Earlier it was also reported that Shetty failed to turn up for the shoot of a dance reality show on Tuesday, hours after her husband’s arrest by the Mumbai police. More here.
The cops have also arrested producer Umesh Kamat, who's looking after India operations of the business for Kundra. Shetty's husband appears to be the "key conspirator” in the case, as per Mumbai Police. The Crime Branch is said to have found a "key piece of evidence" in his arrest- alleged WhatsApp chats between Kundra and his partners with relation to porn content. The content creation and operations of the Hotshots app were carried out through Viaan company and those were created in the Mumbai office, the joint commissioner noted.
"#RajKundra's company Viaan had a tie-up with another London-based company that owned the HotShot app. The content on this app was created in the Mumbai office": Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner Crime, Mumbai Police pic.twitter.com/pvQqUZ0yTK
— NDTV (@ndtv) July 20, 2021
According to reports, the businessman and his partners reportedly made financial gains as high as Rs 60 lakh generated through the month to date (MTD) revenue and profited from around 20 lakh registrations to the applications.
Interestingly, the Hotshots app was taken down by Apple App Store in June 2020 and Google Play Store removed the app in November 2020. In both cases, the reason was its questionable content.
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