Mumbai, Aug 7 (UNI) The Bombay High Court on Saturday dismissed the petitions challenging the remand orders of businessman Raj Kundra and his associate Ryan Thorpe, accused of illegal production and streaming of pornographic content.
"The remand to custody by the Metropolitan Magistrate is within the conformity of law and does not require any interference," Justice AS Gadkari of the High Court stated as quoted by the LiveLaw.
Kundra and Thorpe have alleged that due process of law was not followed by the Police. In their petitions, the duo had termed their arrest as illegal as the mandatory provision of issuing notice under section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was not followed.
Kundra claimed he was given the notice to appear before the investigating officers but was arrested soon after. Thorpe said he was arrested despite accepting the notice and cooperating with investigators.
The prosecution alleged that a notice was served, but investigators could not be mute spectators if the accused were destroying evidence.
Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai submitted that while the number of videos from the SAN network in Kundra's Andheri West office was 51, another 68 clips were recovered from his laptop.
The High Court accepted the prosecutors' arguments and declined the petitions and both the accused will remain in judicial custody.
According to the Police, Kundra's company, Arms Prime Media Ltd, had developed and sold the 'Hotshots App' to another UK-based company called Kenrin Pvt Ltd, which Kundra's relative Pradip Bakshi owns, "to earn money by streaming porn content on social media." Thorpe was Hotshots App's IT head.
Kundra and Thorpe were arrested by the Mumbai Police's Crime Branch on July 19 and booked under sections 354(C) (voyeurism), 292 (sale of obscene content), 420(cheating), 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC, and Sections 67, 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material) of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
UNI PS JW1430