The first charge sheet filed by the Mumbai police in case related to the pornography racket run by businessman Raj Kundra has a presentation attached that reportedly reveals the revenue and profit targets for a ‘back-up’ pornography venture planned by Kundra.
As per a Midday report, Kundra in this presentation projected gross revenue of around Rs 146 crore and net profit of over Rs 30 crore for Bollyfame Media Limited (back-up venture) for the year 2023-24.
The presentation recovered projected gross revenue of Rs 36 crore and net profit of around Rs 5 crore for 2021-22 and gross revenue of around Rs 73 crore with the same net profit for 2022-23. This projection, however, increased exponentially for the year 2023-24.
Commenting on the development, a Crime Branch official said, “The documents were seized from Umesh Kamat. Kundra was not arrested when we filed the first charge sheet. As the investigation progresses, we will get more clarity about Bollyfame and the same will be covered in a supplementary charge sheet.”
The charge sheet does not specify whether the projection was for Bollyfame specifically or some other company.
Kundra had devised Plan-B
Bollyfame Media Limited was launched as Plan B by Kundra to shift content after his app HotShot came under the scanner. In the WhatsApp chats found, Kundra, with his former personal assistant and co-accused Umesh Kamat, reportedly expressed relief at the existence of BF (Bollyfame) after HotShot was pulled down by Google and Apple over policy violations.
“WhatsApp chats between Kamat, Kundra and his brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi clearly state that he had the Plan B in the form of Bollyfame in case HotShot faces legal issues. He was also planning to get celebrities to live-stream on Bollyfame saying it will bring more revenues and subscriptions than Hotshot that has uploaded content,” the officer confirmed.
Bank accounts seized
The Mumbai Crime Branch has directed the State Bank Of India to seize two bank accounts belonging to Kundra and his actor wife Shilpa Shetty at the Kanpur branch.
As per reports, the SBI authorities informed that crores of rupees have been deposited in these two bank accounts.
Quoting sources, an ANI report revealed that Raj Kundra’s production company was being run by one Arvind Srivastava and that the money was being transferred to Srivastava’s wife Harshita.
“We have also found major deposits from his account to the Kanpur account of a woman. We have found that this woman was the wife of one of his employees. We are hoping financial auditing will help provide a clear picture of the money flow in the case,” said an officer.
Srivastava’s father who said he is unaware of his son’s employment or money resource informed that there was a lookout notice for Arvind in February 2021. “In the last two years, Arvind has not come home and he sends money from time to time in the name of household expenses,” he added.
Raj Kundra changed phone anticipating arrest: Reports
As per reports, businessman Raj Kundra was anticipating his arrest after the Mumbai Police arrested nine people in connection with the pornography racket case in March this year. Subsequently, he changed his phone so that data from his device could not be recovered.
When asked about his old device, Kundra said he got rid of it when he bought a new one.
“Police believe that the old phone contains many important pieces of evidence and is looking for it,” said an official.
Technical experts have also been roped in as the Mumbai Police believes a majority of the pornographic content was deleted from the servers of the Viaan Industries, owned by Kundra.
‘Kundra is not cooperating’
The Crime Branch is expected to seek further custody of Kundra as he is not cooperating with the investigation, reports said. “He is not cooperating in the ongoing probe. We have found many documents regarding financial transactions and digital files. We will seek further custody to examine these,” said a senior officer.
Kundra whose custody ends today will be produced before the court again for a remand hearing.
Arrest of Raj Kundra in pornography case
On July 19, actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, was arrested by Mumbai Police for his alleged role in creating and publishing pornographic films on mobile application HotShot.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said, “Businessman Raj Kundra has been arrested by the Crime Branch in a case relating to the creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps. We have arrested Raj Kundra in this case on July 19, 2021, as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this. The investigation is in progress.”
