Fraud worth Rs 60 crore: EOW to summon Shilpa Shetty and husband Raj Kundra in cheating case

The complainant, Deepak Kothari, said that he and his company made repeated attempts to recover the money from businessman Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty, and a mediator, but failed, as they cited pandemic-related delays. A resident of Juhu, Kothari is a director of Lotus Capital Financial Services Limited, which is a non-banking financial company, which provides loans. Kothari eventually found that the couple had used the funds for personal benefit, and had cheated him.

In his FIR, Kothari alleged that Rajesh Arya, who was working as a loan agent in his firm, said that Kundra and Shetty wanted to take on a business loan, and he knew them personally. A meeting was arranged in a five-star hotel in Juhu, where Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty, Arya, and the complainant, along with his son, met in 2015.

Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty Kundra claimed that they were directors of Best Deal TV Pvt Ltd, a now-defunct home shopping and online retail platform. At the time, Shetty reportedly held 87.61 per cent of the shares in the company. Both allegedly sought a loan of Rs 75 crore at 12 percent interest, and the complainant agreed. However, the FIR said, the couple persuaded him to route the funds as an “investment” to avoid higher taxation, while assuring monthly returns and repayment of principal.

As per the complainant, he had given the loan of Rs 60.4 crore for business expansion during the period from 2015 to 2023.

Believing these assurances, Kothari agreed and transferred Rs 31.95 crore in April 2015 under a share subscription agreement, followed by Rs 28.53 crore under a supplementary agreement in September 2015. The amount was allegedly credited to Best Deal TV’s HDFC Bank accounts, and the couple had paid stamp duty of Rs. 3.19 lakh, the complainant alleged in the FIR.

The FIR further states that despite providing a personal guarantee, the complainant received an email from Shilpa Shetty’s email address that she had resigned as director in September 2016 from Best Deal TV. Kothari asked the reasons, but she did not give a satisfactory answer and avoided him. Kothari later discovered that insolvency proceedings had been initiated against the company in 2017 for defaulting on another agreement.

Kothari approached the Juhu Police Station, and based on his complaint, an FIR was registered Wednesday under sections 403 (dishonest and misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) against Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty Kundra. The case was handed over to EOW since the amount involved exceeded Rs 10 crore. EOW is now investigating the case and trying to trace the money trail, and the role of each suspect in the alleged conspiracy, said a EOW official.