Opposing the bail application of businessman Raj Kundra filed before the sessions court in the pornography case, the crime branch has said that he is a British citizen and may flee the country if released on bail.
On Tuesday, Kundra’s anticipatory bail plea in another case concerning obscene content on OTT platforms, was rejected by another sessions court. Prosecutor Shankar Erande had opposed the relief.
In its reply opposing his bail application in the porn case, the Mumbai police said that granting him bail will send a wrong message to society. Being a high profile person, he could disturb the probe using his money power, it added. Further, the police have said that statements of victims and witnesses are being recorded and their life could be in danger too. Pardeep Bakshi, of UK-based Kenrin Pvt. Ltd., to whom Hotshots app was sold by Kundra, is his relative and Bakshi may help him abscond, resulting in important evidence being lost, it said.
Narrating the 45-year-old’s conduct before his arrest, it said that during the search conducted in the office of Viaan Industries upon permission from a magistrate court, emails to Bakshi, obscene content among other evidence was found and Kundra was seen deleting WhatsApp groups and chats while the search was on. It also said that he was seen gesturing to his company’s IT head and now co-accused Ryan Thorpe to delete important evidence. The duo was placed under arrest due to this behaviour, the police informed the court and added, if released on bail, there is every possibility Kundra would destroy evidence. Further, the police said that Kundra had refused to accept and sign a notice to appear for further probe that they gave him after the search.
The reply said that he has contacts in the film industry and may use videos of sexual content of actors and actresses and send them abroad and that a probe is on in this regard.
The probe had found that Kundra had sold the Hotshots app developed by his company Armsprime Media Pvt. Ltd to Kenrin for Rs 24,000 dollars. The app was maintained and managed for Kenrin by Viaan Industries at a ‘service fee’ of Rs. 2 - 3 lakhs monthly. Kundra’s company Avalanche Technology provided anti-priracy service for videos of Hotshots app at Rs. 1.5 - 2 lakhs monthly, it added.
Kundra had approached the sessions court for bail after a magistrate court had denied him the relief. In the plea filed through advocate Prashant Patil, he had said that the chargesheet had already been filed in the case, all accused had been released on bail and that he had not been named in the FIR. He also argued that a certain provision of the IT Act does not apply to him as the alleged material does not depict explicit sexual acts.
