In Goa, Police And Authorities Can Be Managed: Raj Kundra’s WhatsApp Chat With Team

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.

In one of the WhatsApp group chat messages, one of the members of the HotShots team – the porn App promoted by Kundra, is alleged to have said “in Goa, police and authorities can be easily managed”, when another member questioned the reasoning behind moving the operations from Mumbai to Goa.

The WhatsApp chat group in which Kundra was the admin, one member wanted to know why move operations to Goa, when Mumbai was cheaper in terms of local travel, food and had more reliable electricity supply. Another member (who seemed to be familiar with Goa) is alleged to have replied that the cops and authorities can be easily managed, which Kundra agreed to.

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.

Kundra has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a local court, which rejected his bail application today.

Also Read: “Can Manage Cops”: Raj Kundra on renting out a South Goa resort for porn shoots

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.

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 have 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.