A day after businessman Raj Kundra was arrested by the Crime Branch-CID for running a pornographic content racket, it has emerged that his company allegedly lured girls on the pretext of acting opportunities in short films and web series and forced them to shoot nude and semi-nude pictures.
Kundra, a 45-year-old British-Indian businessman, is the husband of Bollywood actor, TV presenter, model and fitness expert Shilpa Shetty.
“It is a big racket and we have received a lot of complaints,” joint commissioner of police (crime) Milind Bharambe told reporters on Tuesday.
The total number of arrests in the case, initially registered in Malvani police station and then transferred to Crime Branch-CID, has gone up to nine with the arrest of Kundra and his tech-man Ryan John Tharp.
The duo was produced before a Magistrate’s court in Mumbai, which remanded them to police custody till July 23.
“They lured girls aspiring to be actors and offered them roles in short films and web series…they were told that they will have to give bold scenes and ultimately led them to give nude and semi-nude scenes,” Bharambe said.
According to him, the Crime Branch-CID was investigating the case for the past few months. “We have obtained necessary permissions of the court (during investigations). We have gathered voluminous evidence,” he said, adding that these include electronic evidence and WhatsApp chats. Bank-to-bank transactions have also been noted.