ED summons Raj Kundra again in money laundering case related to porn film

This May 2022 money laundering case stems from at least two Mumbai police FIRs and chargesheets filed against Kundra and others. The businessman and several others were arrested in the case by the police and later granted bail.

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

The businessman had told a Mumbai local court in 2021 that there was not even an iota of evidence with the prosecution (Mumbai police) to connect the ‘Hotshots’ app, used in the alleged porn racket, with an offense under the law.

According to the investigating agency, the ‘Hotshots’ app was used by the accused persons to upload and transmit obscene content.

Kundra argued that there was no evidence that he was “actively” involved in the creation of alleged questionable porn content.

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

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

The police lodged the FIR based on complaints received from two women, while another woman lodged a complaint at the Lonavla police station, about 120 km from Mumbai.

During the investigation, it came to light that some small artistes were lured by offering them breaks in some web series or short stories, the police said.

These actors were called for auditions and asked to give “bold” scenes, which later turned out to be semi-nude or nude scenes, which were against the actors’ wishes, the official said.

During the police investigation, it also came to light that there were many pornography-like applications (apps) operating in cyberspace.

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

Kundra’s phone contained WhatsApp chats about Kenrin and his business dealings. Those conversations also showed he discussed selling 119 adult movies to one person for $1.2 million, police said.