Porn racket case: Raj Kundra files bail plea before Bombay High Court

On Friday, Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman Raj Kunda have filed a bail application before the Bombay High Court under section 438 (Direction for grant of bail to person apprehending arrest) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). This development comes after the Magistrate court rejected his bail application.

Meanwhile, the sessions court deferred another bail application of Kundra on August 20. The evidence that the Mumbai Police claimed to have seized has 'no obscenity', Kundra had said in his bail application. The cops, however, asserted that the seized videos have pornographic content, which was uploaded on the Hotshots application, which was linked to the businessman's firm.

Further, the police added, "He is an influential person and a British citizen and may leave the country if released."

On Saturday, the Bombay High Court had dismissed Kundra's plea challenging his arrest. The court added that the order of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) was within the conformity of law and didn't require any interference. "The aforesaid would lead to a conclusion that the remand to custody by the metropolitan magistrate is within the conformity of law and does not require any interference," the court had said. 

Raj Kundra porn case

On July 19, Mumbai police had arrested Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman in a pornographic content circulation racket. On the following day, cops revealed that struggling models and artists were lured in name of short films and web series after which they were forced to do semi-nude and nude scenes against their wishes.

The Mumbai Police found several mobile applications, including the Hotshots app, were being operated to circulate porn. The Hotshots app, which was owned by a London-based company called Kernin, produced all of its contents with the help of the Viaan company in Mumbai, owned by Raj Kundra.

Earlier in the day, cops arrested a director of one of Kundra's companies. Abhijeet Bomble, who was named as one of the accused in the pornography case, was arrested by the Mumbai Police's crime branch.

(Image Credit: Instagram@RajKundra9/Representative Image)