Raj Kundra wanted to move his porn and live streaming biz to a Goa resort

MUMBAI:  According to sources in the Mumbai police investigating the Raj Kundra case, apparently Raj Kundra was planning to set up base in Goa and wanted to either purchase or rent a secluded resort in South Goa where all the porn shoots and live streaming acts could take place.

As Goa is not very far away from Mumbai and air-connectivity is very good, the plan was apparently to shift base to Goa, rent a resort and start operations from there, a police source said, adding that he was negotiating with a South Goa 10 room resort owner to either purchase or long lease the entire property, which consists of a private beach area, mini forest and huge lawns with a gated property on which he wanted to conduct porn shoots.

The resort rooms would be converted into studios with bedrooms and other props or settings like a huge tub, where such erotic shoots could be done.

Meanwhile a Mumbai Court extended businessman Raj Kundra’s police custody till July 27 in the porn racket case.

Kundra, husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, was arrested on July 19 by the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police, after he was booked for making and sale of obscene material under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

Kundra was booked under Sections 292, 293 (sale of obscene material) under the Indian Penal Code, Sections 67, 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material) under the Information Technology Act and provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

Inspector Kiran Bidve, who is the investigating officer of the case, got into the witness box and sought Kundra and co-accused Ryan Thorpe’s custody for seven more days.

After his arrest, the police conducted searches at his office and residence on July 20. During the search, police recovered three SAN boxes containing 24 hard disks each and eight servers, containing 4 hard disks each. This is being analyzed by experts. The police have so far found 51 obscene videos in this storage solution.

Cops also had seized Kundra’s mobile phone where they found several chats with Pradeep Bakshi, owner of the UK-based Kenrin Pvt Ltd. In his conversation, police found a list of a total of 119 movies. The movies were to be sold to a company for 1.2 million dollars. During one of his conversations with a man, Kundra had projected that he was a partner in Kenrin Pvt Ltd.

The company had created another application in January 2021 by the name Bollyfame. The app was made on the instruction of Kundra by the IT head Ryan Thorpe. The App was created after Youtube, Google Playstore and Apple store discontinued the HotShots app.

The police found huge inflow of money in the accounts of accused from international accounts in dollars and pounds, which are being analysed. The agency claimed much of the money is from a bank account of an African company by the name of Mercury International.

The police suspect that the money earned through HotShots App was laundered through this African company or he was involved in an online betting racket.

Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda, appearing for Kundra, reiterated his arguments that custody was being sought in offences which were majorly bailable except for two non-bailable offences.