The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted four weeks’ protection from arrest to businessman Raj Kundra in a case filed in 2020 related to broadcasting sexually explicit content on an over-the-top platform, reported NDTV. He is accused of owning a mobile application that streamed and distributed the content.

The court also asked the Maharashtra government to respond to an appeal filed by Kundra against a Bombay High Court order that had rejected his anticipatory bail in connection to the first information report filed by the cyber cell of Mumbai Police, PTI reported.

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The businessman has been charged under sections 292 and 293 (sale of obscene material) of the Indian Penal Code, sections 66E, 67, 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material) under the Information Technology Act and provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

The FIR also named actors Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey as co-accused in the case.

Kundra, who is married to actor Shilpa Shetty, first sought anticipatory bail from a sessions court. When it refused, he had approached the Bombay High Court claiming he was framed in the case, PTI reported.

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However, the Bombay High Court on November 25 refused his plea for an anticipatory bail, following which he had moved the Supreme Court, NDTV reported.

Kundra, in his petition, had said that the videos did not show any physical or sexual activity. He had also denied his involvement in making or broadcasting the videos.

In July, Kundra was arrested in another case for allegedly streaming and distributing sexually-explicit content. He was granted bail by a Mumbai court on September 20 five days after the police had filed a supplementary chargesheet against him and three others.

The police have alleged that Kundra and his associate Ryan Thorpe took advantage of young women from poor families and coerced them to appear in sexually explicit videos. The women said they were cheated as they were given nominal compensations, or sometimes not paid at all.