Raj Kundra granted interim protection from arrest in connection with 2020 pornography case

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest to businessman Raj Kundra in connection with a porn films racket case registered by the city police in 2020. A single bench of Justice SK Shinde directed the police to respond on 25 August to the pre-arrest bail plea filed by Kundra. “Interim protection granted till then,” Justice Shinde said. Kundra, the husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, is currently in jail after being arrested in July in another case related to the production and distribution of pornographic clips on some mobile apps. He filed the anticipatory bail plea in the HC last week in connection with the 2020 case, after a sessions court rejected his application seeking pre-arrest bail. In his plea, Kundra claimed that another accused in the case was granted bail and hence, he too should be given bail on parity. Opposing the plea in the HC on Wednesday, Additional Public Prosecutor Prajakta Shinde submitted that Kundra’s role in the case was different from the other accused in the case. She sought time to take more instructions on the application. Granting her time, Justice Shinde directed for an interim order protecting Kundra from arrest till the next hearing date - 25 August. The FIR against Kundra was registered in October 2020 by the Mumbai police’s cybercrime cell for alleged broadcasting of nude erotic content on an OTT platform. Kundra in his plea submitted that he was falsely implicated in the case. He claimed there was not a single iota of evidence with the prosecution to connect the ‘‘Hotshot’’ app with the offences alleged, as none of the actresses arraigned as accused in the case had raised any grievance.