The arrest of Raj Kundra, the husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, in a case related to pornography has caused quite a stir in India, shining a spotlight on one of the most unsavoury aspects of the entertainment business.
The case, involving the creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some Apps, was registered with Crime Branch Mumbai in February 2021, bdnews24.com says citing Indian media reports.
Kundra, who was marked by police as a 'key conspirator' in the affair, was arrested on Jul 19 along with a few others.
According to the police, they would promise aspiring actresses, who came to Mumbai from various parts of the country, roles in web series.
However, on the day of the shoot, they would change the script and threaten the women to expose themselves. If the women refused, they were asked to foot the bill for the shooting preparations.
Once the movies were shot, the accused made them available on mobile apps, offering subscriptions on the lines of mainstream OTT platforms. They would then put-up advertisements on social media platforms. This was in violation of the law as pornography is illegal in India.
The shoots would normally take place over the course of a day at a rented bungalow on Mumbai's outskirts, police say.
Only a handful of staff, who would double up as directors, dialogue writers, location scouters and web app developers, would be in attendance.
The apps in which the films would be published soared to popularity particularly during the lockdown, with some having a subscriber base in the hundreds of thousands, according to the police.
WHAT POLICE SAY ABOUT KUNDRA’S ROLE?
The police probe was two-pronged -- one focused on nabbing the producers of the pornographic material and the other on the broadcasters of the clips. Some of the production houses broadcast the clips from servers outside the country.
One such UK production house, found to be uploading the content, came under the police scanner and its executive Umesk Kamat was arrested.
An officer said that it was Kundra’s alleged connection to Kamat and the company that uploaded such pornographic content that landed him in trouble.
A day after Kundra's arrest, the crime branch raided his house and recovered the server. Police also stumbled upon WhatsApp chats between Kundra and his associates discussing an alternative plan after Google Play took down one of the OTT apps broadcasting the films, the report adds.
They also recovered 70 videos shot by Kundra’s former PA Kamat with the help of different production houses. But Kundra was not revealing much during questioning, according to the police.
Police said Kundra has been running the porn business for the last two years. However, police have not been able to find any 'active role' of his wife Shilpa in the case so far.
