Mumbai: The Maharashtra Cyber Police has filed a chargesheet against Raj Kundra, a businessman and Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband, and others for making pornographic content and circulating it on OTT platforms for financial consideration.
Along with Kundra, the 450-page chargesheet submitted before the metropolitan magistrate last week has been filed against models Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey, film producer Meeta Jhunjhunwala, and cameraman Raju Dubey. They have been charged with shooting obscene videos in two suburban five-star hotels, as per the Cyber Police's charge sheet filed before a court last week.
The chargesheet also names Suvajit Choudhary of Banana Prime OTT and Kundra's employee, Umesh Kamath, as manager for the London-based company Hotshot, which is owned by Kundra's brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi's company Kenrin, which is registered in the UK.
Earlier in 2021, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch had filed its separate chargesheet in April, followed by a supplementary chargesheet in September in the sensational pornographic racket case that came to light after a raid at a bungalow in Madh Island bungalow in February (2021).
The Cyber Police, which had filed a case in 2019, have claimed that Kundra, Director of Armsprime Media Ltd. was engaged in producing and distributing obscene videos on certain websites.
In the 450-page chargesheet, others named include Banana Prime OTT's Suvajit Choudhary, and a staff member of Kundra, Umesh Kamath, for allegedly producing a web series 'Prem Paglani' containing porn content and uploaded on the OTT.
The Mumbai police had filed a chargesheet in April last year
Earlier, the Mumbai police had filed a chargesheet in April last year and a supplementary chargesheet in September 2021. The porn film racket case came to light following a raid on a bungalow on Madh Island last February.
According to the chargesheet, Kundra, director of Armsprime Media Ltd., was engaged in producing and distributing obscene videos on certain websites.
Who was arrested on what allegations?
Kundra's company aided and abetted the crime as it derived financial benefits from all the other co-accused, though it was aware that such things are illegal, even as it was on the lookout for some other missing models who acted in the porn videos or web series, said the police.
Model Pandey is also accused of developing her own mobile app, "The Poonam Pandey," getting her videos shot, uploading them, and circulating them with the help of Kundra's company.
Jhunjhunwala is accused of aiding and abetting the scripting and directing of stories for Chopra, whereas Dubey has been charged with shooting the videos.
Kundra was arrested by the Mumbai Police on July 19. He spent over two months in custody before getting bail from the Supreme Court in September 2021.
Kundra is the admin of the app HotShots
According to the prosecution, Kundra is the administrator of the app HotShots. During searches, the police seized a laptop from the office of Kundra, from which 68 pornographic videos were recovered.
This is in addition to the earlier 51 videos recovered from the Storage Area Network, as the prosecution claimed. The police recovered scripts with sexual content and a presentation on the financial projection and marketing strategy of HotShots and another similar app, BollyFame, from Kundra’s laptop.
