MUMBAI: A day after the Enforcement Directorate booked businessman Raj Kundra in a money laundering case, the businessman’s lawyer said there were no “proceeds of crime” as contemplated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and that he had no idea what ED intended to probe.
“We don’t know what money laundering aspect ED wishes to investigate in the case. We haven’t received any official communication from ED regarding registration of any ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) yet,” advocate Prashant Patil said.
ED’s case is based on the Mumbai crime branch’s investigation that claimed actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra set up a company, Armsprime Media Pvt. Ltd, which developed a mobile phone application, “Hotshots,” and sold it to London-based Kenrin Pvt Ltd, owned by his brother-in-law.
Police claimed that the 45-year-old businessman used the app to upload pornographic videos shot in and around Mumbai for paid viewership through the app.
Later, Mumbai crime branch filed two chargesheets against the accused persons including Kundra and Ryan Thorpe, the IT head of his company Viaan Enterprises, and two wanted accused.
Police claimed that Kundra allegedly earned over USD 158,057 ( ₹1.17 crore) from subscribers of his “Hotshots” app on Apple’s App Store between August and December 2020. Hotshot app was developed for running a pornographic film racket and Kundra used to control its entire operation through WhatsApp groups, police claimed.
Kundra’s manager Umesh Kamat, who was also arrested earlier, was accused of buying and sending the videos to the UK where they were uploaded on the app, police said, claiming that Kundra made around 100 porn movies which were uploaded on his mobile app and more than 20 lakh subscribers paid to watch the porn content.
ED officials said that they will probe the financial transactions between the accused and the money earned from the alleged pornography business. The agency is likely to summon Kundra to record his statement.
The pornography case came to light after the crime branch’s property cell in February 2021 raided a bungalow at Madh area in Malwani and found two women engaged in the shooting a pornographic film. Police claimed to have rescued a young woman, who was allegedly lured into acting in a short film and forced to perform sex on camera. Later, police arrested others found involved in filming and uploading the porn movie on portals.
On September 20, Kundra was granted bail by a metropolitan magistrate court.
The businessman has repeatedly refuted the charges, claiming he has been falsely implicated in the case.