Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra is an accused in a pornographic films case
Highlights
- Actor Shilpa Shetty's statement recorded by Mumbai Police: Sources
- Police investigating Ms Shetty's role in husband Raj Kundra's business
- Police checking Raj Kundra's bank accounts' statements: Sources
Actor Shilpa Shetty's statement has been recorded by the Mumbai Police in a case of selling pornographic films allegedly linked to her husband and businessman Raj Kundra, sources have said. A police team that visited her bungalow left after over five hours, they said.
The police are investigating whether Ms Shetty knew about her husband's alleged link with the pornographic films business, sources said.
Mr Kundra runs a company called Viaan, and financial transactions to another company, Kernin, that came up during investigations were channelled through Viaan, sources have said.
The police are going through the statements of Mr Kundra's bank accounts as well as transactions between his company and Kernin, sources said.
Following the money trail led to an account in United Bank for Africa belonging to cricket betting firm Mercury International, from where funds have been sent to Mr Kundra's account in Yes Bank, people with direct knowledge of the matter have said.
Mr Kundra has been sent to police custody till Tuesday. His name came up in a case for alleged streaming of pornographic videos through an app called Hotshots.
The police said it had sufficient evidence against Mr Kundra. His close aide Ryan Thorpe, who looked after his company's tech matters, was arrested on Tuesday. So far 11 people have been arrested in the case.
Mr Kundra has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer had objected to classifying content as pornography in the case, pointing out a technicality in the Information Technology Act when read with the Indian Penal Code.
Mr Kundra's laywer, Abad Ponda, in a court hearing on Tuesday said it is incorrect to apply Section 67A of the Information Technology Act on sending obscene material in electronic form with sections in the Indian Penal Code that deal with pornography, since these laws consider "actual intercourse" as porn - and anything else is just vulgar content.
"Police is following what web series are doing these days - vulgar content. But that's not really classified as porn. Nothing in this remand shows that two people actually indulged in act of intercourse. If it's not actual intercourse, it's not classified as porn," Mr Ponda told the court.