Raj Kundra gets ED summon for questioning in porn content case

Trouble seems to be mounting for businessman Raj Kundra who has now been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal distribution of pornographic movies. The summons come a day after the central agency conducted raids at Kundra’s house in Mumbai.

Sources cited in a news agency PTI report said Raj Kundra has been asked to depose before the investigating officer of the case this week. Some others involved in the case have also been summoned, the sources added.

Raj Kundra, the husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, has been under scanner of probe agencies since 2021, the year he was also arrested on charges of producing pornographic content using ‘Hotshots’, an app owned by him.

This is the second money laundering case against Kundra. Early this year, the ED had attached assets worth ₹98 crore of Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty in a cryptocurrency case. The couple, however, obtained relief from the Bombay High Court against this attachment order.

What’s Raj Kundra accused of

According to the probe agency, the ‘Hotshots’ app was being used by accused persons for uploading and streaming obscene content. Raj Kundra told a local Mumbai court in 2021 that there was not even an iota of evidence with the prosecution (Mumbai Police) that would connect the app, used in the alleged porn films racket, with an offence under the law.

Kundra had claimed there was no evidence of him being “actively” involved in the creation of alleged porn content.

He had claimed he was falsely implicated and was not even named in the FIR and was dragged by the respondent (police) in the case.

Raj Kundra claimed in the plea that he is being made a “scapegoat” for reasons best known to investigators.

The complaints against Raj Kundra

The police had filed FIRs on the basis of complaints received from two women, while another woman had submitted a complaint at the police station in Lonavala, around 120 km from Mumbai.

During the investigation, it was found that some small-time artistes were lured with the promise of giving them breaks in some web series or short stories, police had said.

These actors were called for auditions and were asked to act ‘bold’ scenes which later turned out to be semi-nude or nude scenes, which were against the wishes of the actors, PTI cited an official.

The police had told the court that its probe found that Raj Kundra set up Armsprime Media Pvt Ltd, which, through London-based Kenrin Pvt Ltd, bought the Hotshots app to upload “objectionable videos” on social media.

Kundra’s phone contained WhatsApp chats regarding Kenrin and its financial transactions. These conversations also revealed that he had discussed selling 119 adult films to a person for USD 1.2 million, police had said.