‘Plans didn’t materialise’: Shilpa Shetty withdraws plea in Bombay High Court seeking nod to travel abroad in October

“As and when the applicants desire to travel in future, they shall file a fresh application with particulars of travel details. In view of this, the Interim application is dismissed as withdrawn with the said liberty (to the applicants),” a division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad noted.

On October 1, the HC had refused to pass an order granting interim relief to the couple who sought to travel to Phuket in Thailand on a family trip that week.

On October 6, the bench orally asked the couple to deposit Rs 60 crore before pursuing their plea to travel abroad. The couple sought permission for their international travel plans, including a work trip to Los Angeles (LA) in the US for a YouTube event, travel for another event to Colombo and then the Maldives for the expansion of Hotel Bastian, their hospitality venture, later this month.

The couple also sought to visit London and Dubai in December and January to meet Kundra’s parents.

On October 14, advocates Niranjan Mundargi and Keral Mehta for Shetty informed the HC that she intended to travel to the US for five days next week with her son, while her mother and daughter would remain in the city with her husband.

On Thursday, Mundargi told the bench that when the matter was adjourned on the last two occasions, news reports carried the court’s oral remarks.

“Resultantly, that whole travel plan is not materialising… She (Shetty) was the only Indian actress who was requested to join the platform. But, nonetheless, that is not happening. So, in any case, she is not pressing for that. Today, she does not wish to travel at this point of time. Will withdraw it (present IA) and file a fresh application giving details as to when they intend to travel in the month of December,” Mundargi said.

Case against Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra

The EOW probe is based on a complaint by businessman Deepak Kothari, who alleged that Shetty and Kundra duped him of over Rs 60 crore between 2015 and 2023. Kothari claimed that he was persuaded to invest in their company, Best Deal TV, for business expansion, but the money was used for their personal expenses instead.

Her lawyers told the bench that the prime accused in the case was Kundra. There were no specific or direct allegations against Shetty. The investigating agency merely stated that she was one of the directors of the comany and resigned in 2016, they argued.

The bench then orally asked the actor as to why she cannot become an approver in the case.

Meanwhile, the complainant’s lawyer submitted that Shetty had not notarised her affidavit of October 14 and not signed it before the notary. Mundargi said he was not aware of the claims and did not have instructions from his client on the same.

The HC posted the hearing on the couple’s writ plea challenging the LOC to November 17.