Raj Kundra Porn Case: Poonam Pandey issues statement, confirms filing complaint in 2019

After the Raj Kundra pornography racket has come to the fore, model Poonam Pandey issued a statement on Raj Kundra's arrest and confirmed on filing a complaint against Kundra in 2019. While speaking against Raj Kundra, Poonam Pandey iterated that had faith in the police and the judicial process.

"At this moment my heart goes out to Shilpa Shetty and her kids. I can’t imagine what she must be going through. So, I refuse to use this opportunity to highlight my trauma. The only thing I’ll add is that I have filed a police complaint in 2019 against Raj Kundra and subsequently registered a case at the honourable high court of Bombay against him for fraud & theft. This matter is sub judice, hence I would prefer to limit my statements. Also, I have full faith in our police & the judicial process," Poonam Pandey said in a statement.

Also on Tuesday evening, Mumbai Police made a press conference to shed light on the case. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Milind Bharambe said struggling models and artists were lured and promised roles in short films and web series after which they were forced to do nude and semi-nude scenes against their wishes. A London-based firm owned by Kundra's brother-in-law was involved in the racket but Kundra's firm was also a part of the nexus. Multiple apps were involved in the circulation of pornographic content.

"Yesterday when we conducted searches at his office, we got sufficient evidence to arrest him," JT CP Crime Milind Bharambe said. After the Press conference, Milind Bharambe has also said the Police will appeal to the victims to come forward to the police and file the complaint.

Raj Kundra arrested in Porn films racket

Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman Raj Kundra has been remanded to police custody till July 23 by the Mumbai court on Tuesday in connection with the porn film racket. Raj Kundra along with another accused Ryan Tharp was produced by the Mumbai Crime Branch before the Esplanade Court on Tuesday afternoon following their arrest in the case. After the hearing, the court remanded them to police custody till July 23. 

During the hearing, the Mumbai Crime Branch noted that Raj Kundra had created a WhatsApp group that was being used to publish porn videos across various mobile applications. According to the police, Kundra was actively involved in the chatroom and would seek details of the business. As the 'key conspirator', the businessman has been accused of drawing benefits from the apps, the crime branch said adding that they had accessed details of his various bank accounts. The Crime branch also revealed that during the raids conducted, several incriminating pieces of evidence pertaining to the shooting of such films was recovered, and the films would often target people/models of low-income backgrounds.

The Crime Branch told the court that there was a need to investigate the transactions that had taken place during the production of such films and revealed that a huge amount of foreign currency had been deposited in Ryan' Tharp's account. Around 10 crore worth of transactions following Umesh Kamat's arrest in February had also come to the fore and these needed to be investigated, the police stated. Further investigation with Kundra's custody would be impossible since his phone and electronic devices had been seized and sent to forensics, the team noted. After hearing the arguments, the Court remanded Raj Kundra and Ryan Tharp to police custody till July 23.