Raj Kundra booked by ED
Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case against actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra’s husband, businessman Raj Kundra, in connection with the production and circulation of pornography films. ED sources said Raj formed a company named Arms Prime Media Limited in February 2019, and developed an app named Hotshots. The app was later sold to a UK-based company, Kenrin. Notably, the CEO of the company is Pradeep Bakshi, who is Raj’s brother-in-law.
Further, for the maintenance of the app, Raj’s company Viaan Industries had tied up with Kenrin; and for this, transactions worth crores of rupees were made to 13 bank accounts of Viaan Industries, sources said. They added that the app was actually a platform for pornographic films, which were made in India and uploaded on it to offer subscriptions. The transaction of the money earned through the subscribers was done in the name of the company. This way, the money earned used to come into the account of his company, circulating through the UK.
Raj was arrested on July 19 last year, along with 11 other people on charges related to the creation of pornographic films. On September 20, 2021, Raj was granted bail by a Mumbai Court in the pornography case on a surety of ₹50,000. Allegations were levelled against Raj of producing and distributing porn films using his subscriber-driven mobile app. However, he has refuted all the charges levelled against him, and claimed he has been falsely implicated.