Businessman Raj Kundra, husband of actor Shilpa Shetty was arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on July 19 in a pornography-related case. It was an alleged porn shoot inside a bungalow near Mumbai earlier this year that gave rise to an investigation that led to the arrest of Kundra. According to the Mumbai Police, the investigation started in February and had gone cold mid-way but gained momentum in the last few weeks.
Reportedly, on February 4, the police raided a bungalow in Madh Island in north Mumbai. Back then, the police caught five people shooting a porn film and were arrested. The police caught the team in action when two persons were being filmed nude and were caught in intimate poses. A woman rescued from the bungalow became a complainant setting off the investigation.
A couple of days after the investigation began, the police arrested Rowa Khan, a producer of porn films and actor Gehna Vasisht. However, Gehna who is currently out on bail claimed that she was wrongly arrested and was shooting erotica and not porn.
The police closed in to Umesh Kamat when they began investigating apps on which porn was being uploaded and shared especially Hotshots. Kamat was the Indian representative of the UK-based firm Kenrin Pvt Ltd which is owned by Pradeep Bakshi, a relative and business partner of Raj Kundra.
Umesh Kamat, who was the former personal assistant to Kundra named him during his questioning. The police said that Kundra’s name had popped up earlier as well but they did not get any concrete evidence against him. The police investigation found that while Kenrin owned the app, Raj Kundra’s company Viaan Industries was actively involved in running the Hotshots app.
The police believe that the clips were shot in India and transferred to the UK and released on paid mobile apps. The clips were transferred to the UK to bypass the anti-pornography laws in India. According to the police, these clips were shot in houses and hotels rented in Mumbai. They also alleged that the models were forced to shoot porn under the promise of film and web series offers.
Raj Kundra’s office was searched by the police. “We found agreement papers, emails, accounts WhatsApp chats, and pornographic clips from his office during the search,” Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police, told reporters.
