STATE TIMES NEWS
Mumbai: A court in Mumbai on Friday extended till July 27 the police custody of businessman Raj Kundra and his associate Ryan Thorpe in a case related to alleged production and distribution of pornographic films through apps.
The crime branch of Mumbai Police also recorded the statement of Kundra’s wife and actor Shilpa Shetty in connection with the case.
Seeking his further custody, the police claimed that Kundra had plans to sell 119 adult films to a person for a sum of USD 1.2 million. Separately, an investigation officer said that the police also wanted to probe alleged transfer of funds from a South Africa-based sports betting firm into Kundra’s bank account.
Kundra was arrested on July 19 by the police under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.
He, along with Thorpe, was produced before the magistrate after their earlier remand expired on Friday. Seeking the duo’s further custody, the police told the court that the probe found that Kundra set up Armsprime Media Pvt Ltd, which, through London-based Kenrin Pvt Ltd, bought the Hot Shots app to upload “objectionable videos” on social media. Kundra’s phone contained WhasApp chats regarding Kenrin and its economic transactions. These conversations also revealed that he had discussed selling 119 adult films to a person for USD 1.2 million, police said.
They wanted to probe if this deal went through and the videos were transferred, the remand plea said.
Searches at the accused’s office led to the seizure of 51 obscene videos, the police said.
An employee who handled accounts of Hot Shots told investigators that between August 2019 and November 2020 it earned a net profit of GBP 4,000 to 10,000 per month, police said, adding that Kundra’s company Viaan Industries was involved in the maintenance of the app.