Raj Kundra paid Rs2.5m bribe to police to evade arrest in pornography case: reports

Mumbai: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Maharashtra on Thursday informed that they have received four emails alleging that businessman and actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra, who has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a case relating to the production of pornography, bribed Mumbai Police officials with Rs2.5 million (Dh123,294.8) to evade arrest.

According to an ACB official, the emails were sent by a Yash Thakur, another person accused in the pornography case. A similar amount was allegedly demanded from him as well.

His allegations, however, were vague in nature and forwarded to the Mumbai Police for further action.

“ACB Maharashtra has confirmed that they received four emails from Yash Thakur in this regard, but his allegations of seeking a bribe from him and allegations against Raj Kundra bribing to evade arrest were quite vague in nature. The mails were forwarded to the Mumbai police for further action on April 30, 2021,” the ACB official confirmed.

Kundra, along with 11 others, was arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Monday night for his alleged involvement in creating pornographic films and publishing them through some mobile applications.

According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Milind Bharambe, he had a tie-up with a London-based company that was involved in streaming pornographic content through a mobile app called ‘Hotshots’.

New actors were allegedly promised roles in web series and asked to do bold and nude scenes in auditions. A case was registered after female actors opposed this and approached the Crime Branch.

While addressing a press conference, Bharambe said that the police has not yet been able to any find any active role of Shilpa Shetty.

“During a detailed investigation, Raj Kundra’s company located in Viaan had a tie-up with a London-based company Kenrin that owns mobile application Hotshots. All nude content created in Mumbai was published on Hotshots, which was operated from Mumbai. After complaints, this app was takedown by Google Play Store and iPhone,” Bharambe said.

After court permission, Kundra’s offices were searched a few clips were found as well. He was arrested along with his head of IT.