PORN RACKET: NO HC RELIEF FOR KUNDRA, AIDE

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Saturday dismissed separate petitions filed by businessman Raj Kundra and his associate Ryan Thorpe challenging their arrest by the property cell of Mumbai Police’s crime branch in connection with an alleged pornography film racket as well as the July 20 magisterial order remanding them in police custody.

A single judge bench of justice AS Gadkari held that their arrest and remand in police custody was “within the conformity of the provisions of law” and the July 20 magisterial order “did not suffer from any error”.

Though police claimed that Kundra had refused to accept the notice under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC), he contended that no such notice was given to him, and hence, he could not have been arrested without an order of the magistrate. In view of this, he urged the court to release him on bail for police’s failure to comply with legal provisions.

Thorpe said his arrest was illegal as he was held without recording reasons in writing as mandated by section 41A(3).

Public prosecutor Aruna Pai opposed the petitions pointing out that Kundra’s refusal to accept section 41A notice. Pai submitted that instead of cooperating with police, Kundra and Thorpe started deleting data from phones, hence police officers were left with no option but to arrest them to prevent further destruction of material evidence.

Justice AS Gadkari accepted Pai’s contentions and dismissed both the petitions.