The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest to businessman Raj Kundra in connection with a porn films racket case registered by the city police in 2020. A single bench of Justice SK Shinde directed the police to respond on August 25 to the pre-arrest bail plea filed by Kundra. “Interim protection granted till then,” Justice Shinde said.
Kundra, the husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, is currently in jail after being arrested in July in another case related to production and distribution of pornographic clips on some mobile apps. He filed the anticipatory bail plea in the HC last week in connection with the 2020 case, after a sessions court rejected his application seeking pre-arrest bail. During the hearing on Wednesday before Justice Sandeep Shinde of Bombay High Court, Kundra’s lawyer Prashant P Patil argued that the case did not attract punishment of more than seven years. He said that Kundra had cooperated with the police investigation and had even given his statement as required by the Cyber Police. Additional Public Prosecutor Prajakta Shinde opposed Raj Kundra’s plea and submitted that his role in the case was different from other accused. Kundra in his plea submitted that he was falsely implicated in the case. He claimed there was not a single iota of evidence with the prosecution to connect the ‘Hotshot’ app with the offences alleged, as none of the actresses arraigned as accused in the case had raised any grievance. After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Shinde granted interim protection to Raj Kundra till August 25.
