Mumbai's Esplanade Court on Wednesday rejected the bail pleas of Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman Raj Kundra and Ryan Thorpe in connection with charges related to the alleged creation of pornographic films.
Kundra was arrested on
July 19 by the city police's crime branch after being booked under relevant
sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
On Tuesday, a magistrate's court here remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. The Court has not given any interim relief to the businessman on Wednesday.
As the hearing started, the public prosecutor opposed the plea and said that as he is an influential person, he can intimidate the witnesses which will derail the probe. To this, Kundra's lawyer said, "Is Raj Kundra a terrorist?"
Kundra's lawyer also said that the chargesheet was already filed in April and many of the accused are out on bail. But the prosecution objected and said Kundra is a key conspirator of the case and rejected the bail plea of both Kundra and his business associate Ryan Thorpe.
Meanwhile, Crime Branch has appointed a financial auditor to probe the money trail of Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty besides, their alleged involvement in the pornography racket case.
Also read: Pornography case: FIR lodged against 3-4 producers of Raj Kundra’s firm
"In the investigation, the Crime Branch has found transactions worth crores were done from the joint account of Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra. The Crime Branch suspects that the earnings from 'Hotshots' and 'Bolly Fame' app used to come into this account," said the sources.
They added that the police are also probing whether money earned from the apps was being invested in bitcoins.