Shilpa Shetty, Gehna Vasisth and more – Five big reveals from Raj Kundra’s controversial porn case

Raj Kundra made headlines on Monday evening when he was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch in a case involving production of pornographic content and publishing it on a mobile application. He was produced before the Esplanade Court on Tuesday afternoon and has been remanded to police custody till July 23. Here’s taking a look at all the details about the controversial porn production case:

Raj Kundra’s name surfaced when the cops were probing a case registered with Crime Branch Mumbai in February 2021 about the creation of pornographic films. It was revealed that pornographic content was being shot at some bungalows in Madh Island and the same was made available on mobile apps by two companies - Viaan and Kenrin. It is being reported that Raj Kundra supplied the content and controlled the UK firm Kenrin from his Viaan Industries office in India.

The 45-year-old businessman was named as the key conspirator in the case wherein he was involved in the streaming of porn videos through the ‘Hotshots’ app. Mumbai's Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Milind Bharambe said that the free to download app was yanked off by both Apple and Google Playstore for the type of its content. The HotShots app is described as the "world's first 18+ app" showcasing some of the hottest models and celebs globally in exclusive photos, short films and hot videos -- implying soft-to-hard porn. Raj Kundra has said that he sold ‘Hotshots’ for $25,000 in 2019.

Soon after Raj’s arrest, the Mumbai Police started probing if his wife, Bollywood actress Shilpa was involved in the case. So far, the police officials haven’t found any evidence about her. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Milind Bharambe shared in a statement, “We have not been able to any find any active role (of Shilpa Shetty) yet. We are investigating. We will appeal to the victims to come forward and contact the Crime Branch Mumbai and we'll take appropriate action.”

Raj Kundra and his UK based brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi are being named as the alleged masterminds of this porn films racket. According to IANS, Raj is the owner of Viaan Industries Ltd, while Pradeep Bakshi -- a British citizen, who is married to Kundra's sister -- is the Chairman of Kenrin Ltd., London. Both the companies worked on the mobile app called 'HotShots Digital Entertainment', developed by Kenrin Ltd. Raj Kundra reportedly supplied the content and controlled the UK firm from his Viaan Industries office.

Earlier this year, actress Gehana Vasisth was arrested in this case and is currently out on bail. She stated that she has worked as an actress in three films produced for Raj Kundra’s app and that none of those movies were porn movies. According to a report on TOI, Umesh Kamat, a former employee of Raj Kundra, has been accused of uploading at least eight "pornographic and obscene" videos shot by Gehana Vasisth on the app.