Raj Kundra arrested in porn apps case; businessman ‘key conspirator’, says police

According to Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale, Kundra appears to be the key conspirator in the case and the police has sufficient evidence pointing towards this. (File)

The Mumbai police crime branch Monday arrested businessman Raj Kundra for being the alleged “key conspirator” in a case of making pornographic films and publishing them through mobile applications.

Kundra is the husband of actor and businesswoman Shilpa Shetty.

The Property Cell of the Mumbai crime branch had in February this year registered an FIR in connection with the case and arrested nine persons soon after. Kundra’s name came up during the interrogation of the accused, police officers said.

On Monday, Kundra was summoned for questioning, following which he was placed under arrest. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said, “We have arrested Raj Kundra in this case on 19/7/21 as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidences regarding this. Investigation is in progress.”

Nagrale said the arrest was in connection with the case registered with Crime Branch Mumbai in February this year about making pornographic films and publishing them through some mobile apps.

In the racket busted by the crime branch, the police had said women were lured into acting in pornographic movies with promises of roles in web series.

Some of the accused arrested were owners of streaming platforms where these porn films were available for viewing with a subscription fee. An officer said that Kundra’s name came up in connection with his links to one of the companies involved in showcasing such movies on digital platforms.

Apart from the case by Mumbai police, Kundra’s name had also cropped up in a similar case that had been registered by the Maharashtra Cyber police last year. In that case, Kundra had filed for anticipatory bail and the court is likely to decide on his application next week.