Raj Kundra arrested for destroying evidence: Public Prosecutor's appearance in court

Direct hearing on Monday due to problems in video conferencing

MUMBAI: Raj Kundra's plea challenging the action taken against him on charges of creating and broadcasting pornography through an app was debated in the High Court on Saturday. Senior public prosecutor Aruna Pai represented the police in court. Last week, his lawyer Abad Ponda presented arguments on Raj Kundra's plea.

Following this, on Saturday, the government prosecutor Pai started presenting arguments on behalf of the police. Pie was unable to speak due to a technical glitch in the video conferencing. The court therefore adjourned the matter to Monday and it was unanimously decided that a direct hearing would be held on Monday.

The public prosecutor told the court that the FIR was lodged at the Malvani police station in Mumbai on February 5, 2021 and the case was then handed over to the Crime Branch. The chargesheet was then filed against the nine accused on April 3. Pai said Raj Kundra and IT head Ryan Thorpe are accused of being involved in serious crimes.

Both were making videos and uploading them for streaming the Hotshots app and the Bolifam app. 51 movies have been seized from both the apps. He further told the court that their personal laptops and other devices had been seized. His office was investigated on July 19 against Raj and Ryan.

We found an email sent to Kundra's son-in-law Pradeep Bakshi on the Hotshots app. Canary Pvt. Ltd. in Buxi UK. Ltd. A legal notice was sent to Raj, but he did not accept. The notice asked Raj to cooperate in the investigation and he removed the WhatsApp chat and evidence.

Aruna Pai further said that when the accused starts removing evidence, the investigating agency cannot be a witness and it becomes necessary to stop the accused. Raj was arrested for preventing the destruction of evidence. Then came the technical problem in video conferencing from Pie. Gadkari adjourned the hearing to Monday.