ED lodges money laundering case against Raj Kundra in porn apps case

The Enforcement Directorate has lodged a Prevention of Money Laundering case against businessman and actor Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra in connection with pornographic apps case.

The case is based on an FIR lodged by the Mumbai Police in 2021.

As of now, the ED has not summoned him. There are allegations that few overseas financial transactions are on the radar of the anti-money laundering agency.

In 2021, Kundra was accused by the Mumbai Police of allegedly running a porn racket, which spread over several countries.

It has been alleged the money thus earned were routed out of India through hawala channel. The ED has reportedly accessed all the case files relating to the case from Mumbai Police which includes a few financial transactions record too.

The probe agency will now scan Kundra's property in the country and abroad. It will also scrutinise the last three to five years transactions of his and his firms. The ED will try to figure out the financial chain through which the money were being sent and received.

It was alleged that young aspiring girls were forced to act in adult movies on various pretext. In case the girls refused, they were asked to bear the whole expenditure of the shoot and their stay.

The porn content was then uploaded on a mobile app Hotshots, which was later removed from google play store.

Hotshots was developed by Kundra's firm but later was sold to one UK-based firm Kenrin whose real owner was Pradeep Bakshi, the brother-in-law of Kundra.

There were other mobile apps on which the contents were uploaded such as Hothit movies. The subscriber had to pay to watch the porn content.

--IANS

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