Shilpa Shetty on porn racket case: Too busy with my work, not aware of what Raj Kundra was up to

The police have claimed in the chargesheet that Kundra used the Mumbai office of Viaan to run day-to-day operations of the porn racket in collaboration with a UK-based company Kenrin.

Shetty added, “I am not aware about Hotshots or Bollyfame app. I was too busy with my own work and hence not aware about what Kundra was up to.”

Mumbai Police said that Hotshots and Bollyfame were some of the apps through which pornographic content was uploaded online by Kundra and Thorpe.

Raj Kundra in police custody (Express Photo)

Apart from Shetty, there are statements from nearly 42 other witnesses, at least five of them recorded before a magistrate. Another statement was that of a director of Arms Prime Company, which had developed the Hotshots app.

Initially, Kundra was one of the directors of the company when it was set up in February 2019, but he later resigned in November 2019. The statements of one of the directors of Arms Prime indicate that Kundra had become a director just because he wanted to use the technical capability of the company to develop the Hotshots app. Once the app was developed by November, he submitted his resignation and gave two options to the other directors. Either they could pay up Rs 87 lakh he had invested in the company or give him the Hotshots app.

“It was when the pornography case came to light did I understand that Kundra had just invested in the company so that he could get the app developed,” the statement of the director says.

The statement of one of the girls who was misled into acting in one of these pornographic movies by wanted accused Shrivastava alias Yash Thakur said that she was promised that these movies would be available only in foreign countries, and if at all they were shown in the country “the bold scenes” would be cut. “However, when I saw the entire movies being shown in the country, I told them to delete the scenes but he refused,” she added in her statement.

So far, 11 persons have been arrested by the Mumbai police in the case that was busted after a raid at a bungalow in Madh Island in February this year. The police had already filed a chargesheet against nine persons in April this year, and the rest have been charged in the supplementary chargesheet filed on Wednesday.

An officer said in the chargesheet that they have submitted evidence to show that Kundra, Thorpe, wanted accused Yash Thakur alias Arvind Kumar Shrivastava, a Singapore resident, and Sandeep Bakshi, brother-in-law of Kundra who is based in the UK, were involved in running portals where pornographic content was uploaded.