Bollywood actress Sherlyn Chopra on Thursday has been denied anticipatory bail in the porn racket case, involving businessman and Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra.
Amid fear of getting arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, Chopra had moved Mumbai Sessions court to seek protection well before time. However, the Court turned down her plea, paving way for the investigation agency to record her statement as a witness in the creation and publishing of pornographic content on applications.
Chopra’s lawyer had told the court that the bail application was filed as the actress feared her arrest just like the others accused in the case. He further added that Sherlyn was not refraining from the investigation.
Advocate Siddhesh Borkar appearing for Sherlyn Chopra argued before Judge Sonali Agarwal and said, "This is the same case where accused Raj Kundra was also not given notice under 41 A and was straight away picked up. The police has done this with other accused as well. I myself have appeared as an advocate for accused number 7, Umesh, and he was also picked up by police without giving notice. It has been prevalent in their investigation."
"Chopra had reasonable apprehension that if she went to police in good faith and then got arrested. So that is why she needs protection,” the lawyer added.
In a reply to Sherlyn’s protection plea, the police said that during the investigation they found out through media that she had grievances against Raj Kundra. The investigation team had even gone through her statement in the Cyber Cell case, therefore, to collect strong evidence against the arrested accused in the case, they wanted to get Sherlyn Chopra’s statement.