Raj Kundra peddled porn, sent money to UK, said business partner Saurabh Kushwaha

Ahmed Ali (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 17, 2021)

Mumbai: Businessman and actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra set up Hotshots, an online platform, with the intention of distributing pornographic material, his business partner has said in a confessional statement now part of the supplementary chargesheet submitted by the police.

The Hotshots app was set up by Armsprime Ltd, in which Kundra and Saurabh Kushwaha were directors. Kushwaha, who held 35% stake, said control of the app, including uploading videos was in the hands of Kundra.

Subsequently, Hotshots was sold to UK-based Kenrin Ltd with Kundra resigning from Armsprime’s directorship a day prior to the sale.

The chargesheet says a forensic audit also reveals money laundering of the revenues generated from Hotshots. The funds were diverted using Google and Apple apps to Kenrin’s account in Lloyds Bank in the UK even before the sale by Armsprime.

The revenues generated from the Hotshots app from August 2015 to December 2020 were transferred by Google and Apple Inc to the bank account of Kenrin maintained with Lloyds Bank in the UK instead of Armsprime Indian account. This indicated that the revenues that were earned and accrued on sale of the Hotshots app were diverted and laundered to Kenrin Ltd’s UK bank account during the directorship of Kundra in Armsprime Ltd,” the chargesheet says. Police have also attached the details of the revenues generated from the sale of subscriptions of Hotshots on Apple Inc and Google.

Kushwaha said he was in the dark about the operations as Kundra and the company's tech head, Ryan Thorpe, handled the show. One of the mails retrieved during the forensic auditing cites an email between Kundra and Kushwaha where the former mentions waiving off loans to Armsprime on the condition that ownership of the OTT platforms are transferred to his servers.

The scrutiny of the accounts and audited balance sheet of Armsprime reveals there are outstanding loans for an amount of Rs 17.92 lakh payable to Kundra as on March 31, 2019, said the chargesheet. This establishes Kundra is a director in Armsprime and also instrumental in deciding the sale consideration of the Hotshots app and its mode of payment.

Hotshots was sold to Kenrin in the UK on December 12, 2019. A day prior to the sale, Kundra resigned from the directorship of Armsprime. The chargesheet cites an email between Kundra and Kushwaha on January 6, 2020 which indicates purchase consideration and mode of payment were carried out with their mutual knowledge.

Meanwhile, Shilpa Shetty who is cited as witness no. 39 has stated that she was busy and never inquired with Kundra about his work. Kundra started Viaan Industries Ltd in 2015 which was into making animation, cartoons and apps, she said. Shilpa said that in February when the crime branch busted the pornography case and arrested Umesh Kamat, the PA of Kundra, she asked her husband about it. She said he told her that arrested model Gehana Vashist alias Vandana Tiwari and Kamath have independently shot and uploaded the porn movies.

In February, the property cell of the crime branch raided a bungalow in Madh Island in Malad and busted a porn video film-making racket and rescued a woman. This led to the arrest of Raj Kundra and others.

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In chargesheet, lookout notice against Kundra, brother-in-law

Police have shown Raj Kundra’s brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi and Singapore-based Arvind Kumar alias Yash Thakur as absconding accused in the supplementary chargesheet. They issued lookout notices (LOC) against Bakshi, Thakur and Kundra. On why they have issued an LOC against Kundra when he is already in jail, police said that he was a UK national, and if released, he may fly to London and may not return to face trial.