MUMBAI: Actress Sherlyn Chopra was one of the witnesses who gave her statement in a 1,500-page supplementary charge sheet in Raj Kundra’s production and distribution of obscene material to the Mumbai Police.
Police have arrested businessman Raj Kundra and his associates in the porn racket case. Sherlyn had earlier told the police that Raj and the creative director of his firm would nab her for working for the mobile application. Sherlyn’s statement was recorded in the crime branch document in which she said, “I hired Arms Prime Pvt Ltd to develop the Sherlyn Chopra app. The directors of Arms Prime were Saurabh Kushwaha and Raj Kundra.” The actress even claimed that Raj told her that the material on “Hotshots” would be “more bold and hot”. She further said that Raj asked her to work without worry.
Sherlyn further revealed that as per her understanding, the proceeds from the Sherlyn Chopra app were to be shared equally between Arms Prime Pvt Ltd and her. But he never got her share of the income. She said, ‘I never got my 50 percent share. Subsequently, Raj Kundra approached me to work for Hotshots App, a subsidiary of Arms Prime Pvt Ltd. I was assured that it is perfectly fine for Hotshots to work. I was also told that Hotshots will have bold content and videos. But we could not come to an agreement on the creative ideas and the monetary aspect of the deal, which is why I declined Raj Kundra’s offer to work on Hotshots. Meeta Jhunjhunwala, creative director of Hotshots, tried to persuade me to work for her.
Soon, the crime branch filed a charge sheet and Raj’s lawyer withdrew his bail plea from the Mumbai sessions court. Police have charged Raj and his IT chief Ryan Thorpe under various sections of the IPC and sections of the Information Technology Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986. Recently, Raj’s wife Shilpa Shetty recorded her statement in the matter and said, “Kundra started Viaan Industries Limited in 2015 and I was one of the directors till 2020, when I resigned due to personal reasons. I don’t know about Hotshots or Bollyfem apps. I was very busy with my work and hence I was not aware of what Kundra was doing. Raj was arrested in July for making obscene films and publishing them through certain apps.
(with agency input)