Police say Raj Kundra sold Hotshots app to cover up porn trail

Ahmed Ali

Raj Kundra was involved in the streaming of porn videos through the ‘Hotshots’ app, police said. 

(This story originally appeared in  on Jul 21, 2021)

MUMBAI: To mislead investigating agencies, businessman Ripu Sudan Balkrishna Kundra alias Raj Kundra (45), arrested on Monday for production of pornographic films, sold his app ‘Hotshots’ to the UK-based company Kenrin Pvt Ltd owned by his brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi but controlled activities from Mumbai, police said on Tuesday. 

Raj Kundra, husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, and his IT head Ryan Thorpe, who were arrested by the crime branch, were produced before the 37th metropolitan magistrate on Tuesday and remanded in custody till July 23. Police had already arrested nine people earlier in the case. 

Kundra was involved in the streaming of porn videos through the ‘Hotshots’ app, police said. ‘Hotshots’ has now been removed from mobile platforms. Kundra supplied the content and controlled the UK firm from his 

Viaan Industries

office. Kundra said that he sold ‘Hotshots’ for $25,000 in 2019. 

Police said they found proof, including clips from Kundra’s office Kundra’s lawyers Abad Ponda and Subhash Jadhav alleged the arrests were illegal as the police did not follow procedures under the Criminal Procedure Code.