Raj Kundra walks out of Mumbai jail after getting bail in pornography case

Mumbai | Businessman Raj Kundra on Tuesday walked out of a Mumbai jail, a day after a magistrate court granted bail to the key accused in a pornographic films case. Kundra was released from the Arthur Road jail shortly after 11.30 am, a jail official said. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SB Bhajipale on Monday allowed Kundra’s bail application on furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000. Kundra’s associate and co-accused Ryan Thorpe, who was arrested along with him on 19 July, was also granted bail by the court in the case pertaining to the alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps. The 46-year-old businessman was lodged in Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai under judicial custody. Kundra (46) had filed a bail plea before the court, claiming there was not a single evidence against him in a supplementary chargesheet filed by the Mumbai police crime branch in the case. The businessman, in the plea, had claimed there was no evidence of him being “actively” involved in the creation of alleged questionable porn content and that he was being made a “scapegoat” in the case. The crime branch, probing the case, had recently filed a supplementary chargesheet in the court against Kundra and three others in the case pertaining to the alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps. Kundra, husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty , was arrested on 19 July after being booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act. The public prosecutor opposed Kundra’s application, saying just because the chargesheet has been filed, it does not imply bail is to be granted to the accused. The police, in their supplementary chargesheet, had claimed Kundra was the “main facilitator” in the case and he along with other accused exploited young women struggling in the movie industry by filming them in obscene ways. The nearly 1,500-page chargesheet against Kundra and Thorpe was filed in court on 15 September by the crime branch. Besides Kundra and Thorpe, Yash Thakur, a resident of Singapore, and London-based Pardeep Bakshi have been shown as wanted accused in the chargesheet. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)