Businessman Raj Kundra and his aide Ryan Thorpe filed for bail before the City Civil and Sessions Court on Thursday in the pornographic racket busted early this year.
They were arrested on July 19 by the Property Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch and are currently lodged in the Arthur Road Jail. They have challenged the Magistrate’s order rejecting their bail applications on July 28. The court had said, “If released they will hamper the investigation and the alleged offence is detrimental to the health of the society.” The Sessions Court issued direction to Mumbai Police on Thursday to file its reply and adjourned the matter to be heard on August 10.
The duo was booked under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 292 (sale, etc., of obscene books, etc.) of the Indian Penal Code, and several relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and Indecent Representation of Women Act.
On August 2, the Bombay High Court reserved the order in a plea filed by Mr. Kundra and Mr. Thorpe challenging their arrest and seeking immediate release from jail.
Mumbai Police had informed the High Court that a lot of incriminating material had been found against them and they were arrested because they had started deleting messages from WhatsApp groups, thereby destroying evidence. The prosecutor had also said that a hard disk in their office laptop had over 100 pornographic videos, and Mr. Kundra’s laptop had a film script with sexual content.
Mr. Kundra is the husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty.
