ED books Raj Kundra for money laundering in porn racket case

Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case against actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband and businessman Raj Kundra in connection with the production and circulation of pornography films.

ED sources said Kundra formed a company named Arms Prime Media Limited in February 2019 and developed an app named Hotshots. Hotshots app was later sold to a UK based company Kenrin. Notably, the CEO of Kenrin, a UK based company, is Pradeep Bakshi, who is actually Raj Kundra’ brother-in-law.

Further, for the maintenance of the Hotshots app, Kundra’s company Viaan Industries had tied up with Kenrin and for this, the transaction of crores of rupees was made to 13 bank accounts of Viaan, sources said. Sources further said that the Hotshots app was actually a platform for porn movies, which were made in India and uploaded on the Hotshots app to offer subscriptions. The amount of money earned through the subscribers was transacted in the name of Kundra’s company Viaan Industries.

This way the money earned from porn films used to come into the account of Kundra’s company circulating through the UK. Raj Kundra was arrested on July 19, 2021 along with 11 other people on charges related to the alleged creation of pornographic films.

On September 20, Kundra was granted bail by a Mumbai Court in the pornography case on a surety of Rs 50,000. Allegations were levelled against Kundra for allegedly producing and distributing porn films using a subscriber-driven mobile app called Hotshots. On the other hand, Kundra has refuted all the charges levelled against him by saying that he has been falsely implicated.