Businessman Raj Kundra on Friday moved the Bombay High Court challenging a local court’s order remanding him to police custody, Live Law reported.
Kundra, the husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, has been named as an accused in a case related to making pornographic video clips and sharing them through mobile apps. He was arrested on July 19. A Mumbai court on Friday extended his police custody, along with that of alleged aide Ryan Thorpe, till July 27, The Hindu reported.
Kundra has argued in the petition that his arrest was illegal as he was not given a notice to appear before the police first. He has also contended that the videos mentioned in the case were not pornographic, as they did not explicitly show sexual acts.
The businessman also claimed that the police wrongly invoked Indian Penal Code provisions in the case. He argued that the case relates to electronic transmission of content, and so, is covered under the Information Technology Act.
Kundra has booked under Sections 354(C) (Voyeurism), 292 (sale of obscene content) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC. The FIR also invokes sections of the Information Technology Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, which deal with the transmission of sexually explicit material, the Hindustan Times reported.
The case against Kundra
The police have alleged that Kundra owned Hotshots, a video streaming app that created pornographic content. According to the police, he later sold the app to his relative, Pradeep Bakshi, who lives in the United Kingdom.
The police called Kundra a “key conspirator”.
Last year, Kundra’s name had emerged in a similar case filed by the Maharashtra Cyber police. He had then filed for anticipatory bail and the court is expected to take up his application next week.
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