Police have have seized 48 terabytes of "mostly adult" images and videos from Shilpa Shetty's home in a raid following her husband's arrest over his alleged involvement in a porn production ring. Businessman Raj Kundra was arrested last week by police in Mumbai after allegedly luring a woman into making an X-rated film with the promise of an acting job. His custody has been extended until July 27 amid an ongoing investigation, with his wife Shilpa denying any involvement in the alleged offenses.
Cops are now seeking to clone her phone and may also bring her in for a second round of questioning, reports said. One terabyte is equal to around one million megabytes - with one photo usually one or two megabytes, and a ten-minute video around 240 megabytes. Shilpa told cops when questioned that she believed Kundra was innocent and claimed his co-accused Pradeep Bakshi was the one involved with the "Hotshot" mobile app, which allegedly streamed pornographic content. She told police she was "unaware of the exact nature of the content" on the app, describing it as "erotica" rather than pornography. Cops are investigating whether Shilpa benefited from her husband's alleged links to the porn film business as part of her position as director of his firm, Viaan, from which she has now resigned after allegations came to light.
An investigation was launched on February 3 after a woman approached the cops and complained about being forced to do a porn film after being promised an acting job, according to a report. The film company was allegedly set up by Kundra and his brother and registered in the UK to evade Indian cyber-laws.
Key conspirator
"We've arrested Kundra in this case as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this," the Mumbai police commissioner said in a statement. The videos were allegedly shot in houses and hotels rented in Mumbai, transferred using WeTransfer to the UK and released on paid mobile apps. The models were wooed with promises of film offers and "forced" to shoot naked scenes for porn films, according to reports. Kundra faces charges of cheating and "obscene and indecent advertisements and displays".
Publishing or transmitting "obscene" material including porn is illegal in India and punishable by up to seven years in jail. Model and actress Poonam Pandey previously filed a complaint against Kundra and his associate in the Bombay High Court after claiming Kundra's company had misused her photographs. Kundra dismissed the allegations against him and said he had nothing to do with it.
ED likely to probe money laundering angle
The Enforcement Directorate is likely to probe the money laundering angle in Kundra case, as the Mumbai crime branch found suspicious financial transaction between him and the South African bank account of Mercury International company (online betting and casino gaming). Crime branch for the third time carried out a search of Kundra’s Viaan Industries office in Andheri and found several files pertaining to financial transactions stuffed in an almirah which was hidden between two walls.
The crime branch has initiated a forensic auditing of Viaan Industries, Armsprime and Hotshot app that he bought and sold to his brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi’s company Kenrin. “We have brought these files, which will be studied by the forensic auditing team. We are sending eight servers seized from Kundra’s office for forensic analysis as prima facie we have found pornographic data deleted after police busted the racket in February. Experts can find out if these servers have been used to upload pornographic material to Kenrin,” said an official.
