In Raj Kundra porn case, 'No clean chit to Shilpa Shetty yet,' says Mumbai Police

In a recent development to the pornography racket case, the Mumbai Police has suspected that Raj Kundra's brother-in-law, Pradeep Bakshi was only used as a 'face' for the Hotshots application and that all its functioning was managed by Kundra himself. Hotshots is a 'video-on-demand service that provides premium digital entertainment in the form of explicit content, the police said. 

While the Hotshots app is owned by Bakshi's London-based firm Kernin, all its content was being produced and accounts were being handled by Raj Kundra's Viaan company located in Mumbai. Other directors of Viaan Industries will also be called for statements as and when needed, the Crime Branch said. 

Earlier in the day, Kundra was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Mumbai court in connection with the porn film racket. The police found that he lured small-time artistes and models into doing bold scenes by promising them a break in web series. Following his arrest, some other victims approached the police to give statements, officials said. Meanwhile, Kundra has filed for a bail application before the Magistrate court. 

No clean chit to Shilpa Shetty

Apart from Raj Kundra and Pradeep Bakshi, the alleged involvement of a person named Yash Thakur has also come to the fore. The Mumbai Police has requested the court to arrest both Bakshi and Thakur in connection with the porn films case. 

Meanwhile, the Property Cell of Crime Department has frozen Yash Thakur's bank accounts with amounts of around Rs 6 crore. According to a Crime Branch official, Thakur has requested the Mumbai Police to de-freeze his accounts but the police has asked him to join the investigation first.

Interestingly, all the accused persons arrested in the case have denied meeting Yash Thakur even once, but all of them have contacted him through a common number starting with +65 which is a Singapore ISD code. 

The Crime Branch is conducting a lengthy audit of Raj Kundra's assets and until the audit is complete, no clean chit will be given to anyone including his wife, actress Shilpa Shetty.