It was on July 19 when Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra’s husband Raj Kundra was taken under the custody of Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch on charges of creating hundreds of pornographic content, spread across a few apps. On July 20, a metropolitan magistrate court remanded the businessman to be under police custody until July 23. However, the same was extended until July 27.
Raj Kundra moved Bombay High Court on July 23 challenging police custody amid the pornography scandal. For the hearing of his bail plea on July 27, Raj was spotted leaving the Byculla jail in Mumbai on Tuesday noon.
His bail plea was heard today and as per the judgment, the businessman was sent to judicial custody for 14 days. An ANI tweet on the same read, “Maharashtra: A court in Mumbai sends actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra and Ryan Thorpe to judicial custody for 14 days in the pornography racket case.” Reportedly, the matter is kept for hearing tomorrow again.
Raj Kundra has been arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code – sections 354(C) (Voyeurism), 292 (sale of obscene content), 420(cheating) of the IPC and Sections 67, 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material) of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
Raj Kundra’s bail petition was filed under Article 277 of the Constitution to countermand the order passed by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on July 20 that remanded Raj to police custody. The plea has it that Raj’s arrest is illegal as he was not issued a proper notice before his arrest.
As per a Live Law report, this is what Raj Kundra’s bail plea specifically says: “Notice in the matter where FIR is registered on 05.02.2021, the Charge sheet is filed on 03.04.2021 and they could have easily served notice and could have allowed the Petitioner to appear and give his statement and if the Petitioner failed to do so the consequences would had followed. However, if the Petitioner did appear then under Section 41A (3), he should not be arrested at all, is the mandate of law.”
On July 23, the same day when Raj moved Bombay High Court, his and actress Shilpa Shetty’s Mumbai house was raided by the Crime Branch. The Mumbai Police claimed to find huge transaction trails in Raj’s accounts. Mumbai Police also claimed that the money earned from the distribution of porn films was used by Raj for online betting.
Ever since the news came out in the limelight, Raj, along with 11 others have been accused in the porn scandal. Raj Kundra was identified as the “key conspirator” by police officials
