Mumbai: Businessman and actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra has approached the Bombay high court challenging his “illegal” arrest in the case of creation of pornographic films and publishing them through apps. Mumbai police had arrested Kundra (45) on July 19 and he is in police custody till July 27.
Seeking quashing of the remand order passed by a local court, Kundra’s petition prays that he be released from custody.
His petition states that he was “deeply aggrieved by the illegal arrest which is in complete violation of the mandate of Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).”
Challenging the July 20 order of the magistrate remanding him to police custody, Kundra’s petition reads that it was in complete violation of provisions of law as serving a notice under section 41A of the CrPC was mandatory particularly in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per section 41A of the CrPC, the police may issue summons to the accused person and record his/her statement in cases where arrest is not warranted.
Countering police’s claim, Kundra’s petition states that if the material produced by the police is viewed then it will be clear that the same does not “depict direct explicit sexual acts and sexual intercourse but shows material in the form of short movies which are lascivious or appeal to the prurient interest of persons at best”.
“On July 19, 2021, the respondents (police) carried out a search in the office premises of the petitioner (Kundra) and requested him to accompany them to record his statement. The respondent arrested the petitioner in the police station where he was called under the garb of recording his statement,” reads his petition.
Kundra has further alleged that after his arrest, the police asked him to sign a notice issued under section 41A of CrPC which he refused to.
The maximum sentence according to the sections under which Kundra has been booked is seven years of imprisonment. Hence under these circumstances, it is completely illegal to arrest the said person/accused without complying with the requirements of section 41A of the CrPC”, adds his petition.
Further his petition reads: “The Magistrate erred in remanding the petitioner to police custody in utter breach/violation of the directions of the Supreme Court in three judgments which are binding not only on the police but also on all subordinate courts.”
Besides, the petition claims that when the FIR was lodged in February this year, he was not even named as an accused and that a chargesheet has been already filed in the case in April this year. The other accused arrested in the case are already out on bail, states the petition.
Kundra is booked under sections 354(C) (Voyeurism), 292 (sale of obscene content), 420(cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 67, 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material) of the Information Technology Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
According to police, Kundra is a "key conspirator" in the racket, and they have found various foreign transaction of his company with the company uploading pornographic content from a foreign IP address in London. The police claimed that Kundra owned an app called 'Hotshot' that created pornographic content. Later the application was sold to UK based accused Pradeep Bakshi, allegedly Kundra's relative. However, Kundra still called the shots.