The investigations into the pornographic films racket involving businessman and actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra have thrown up lurid details of the porn film shoots held at private bungalows at Madh Island and “nude auditions” conducted by racketeers who circumvented the Indian laws, made the porn films and uploaded them on mobiles in the United Kingdom
Two days after Kundra’s arrest, the Mumbai Crime branch sleuths have uncovered the conspiracy behind the making and streaming of pornographic videos through an app called "Hotshots" and also OTT platforms by putting up advertisements on social media platforms.
In another major development, the investigators are recovered the messages from as WhatsApp group run by Kundra to deal with money accrued from the porn movies produced by them. The group was named “H AAccounts” and had Kundra as its admin with four other members: Pradeep Bakshi, Rob Digital Marketing Hotshot, Raw Evans. They have found some incriminating messages relevant to the case being investigated by them.
The distribution and marketing strategy adopted by Kundra and team was to send the videos produced in Mumbai through an application to Kenrin Production in the UKas to avoid legal issues in India. Kenrin Production would edit and upload the pornographic films Hotshot. Kenrin was allegedly funding the porn film production through agents based in India.
Confirming the financial trial among the culprits behind the porn scam, Mumbai’s Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Milind Bharambe said: “We have the details of the financial trials among them,” said.
Meanwhile, in a new twist to the ongoing investigations into the sleazy porn film racket, a model and actress – whom Kundra’s frontman Umesh Kamat had approached for a “nude audition” –- came into the open, by claiming that she gave her audition over a video call. Much to the annoyance of Kamat, she claimed that she did not “undress” for the audition, but she did give the audition on the promise by Kamat that she would land a role in a web series.
Among other things, she claimed that Kundra was a “mere pawn” in the entire racket, in which she alleged several people were involved.
The model-cum-actress, who did not want to be identified but demanded stern action against Kundra and his associates, explained the modus operandi involved in the racket in which women who approached for roles would soon be involved in bikini shoots, bold shoots and eventually nude. In search of small roles in films, the women would not come into the open about things they were forced to do and some of them would end up prostitution.
Another ploy used by the racketeers was to lure women -- coming from different parts of the country to make a career in Bollywood, with roles in web series. However, after the start of shooting, they would change the script to indulge in bold shoots and even nude shoots. If the women in question refused, the racketeers would force the women to pay up expenditure incurred on the preparations for the shoots, a threat would force the women to succumb to the dictates of the porn film makers.
Informed sources that a raid conducted on February 4 this year by the Malwani police on a private bungalow at picturesque Madh Island at Malad (west) in north Mumbai where a porn film was being shot, ripped the lid off a well-oiled racket. It was a tip-off from an affected woman who approached the police with her grievance that led to the raid.
After initial investigation, the Mumbai Police handed the case to the Property Cell of Crime Branch-CID for further probe during which the name of United Kingdom-based Pradeep Bakshi, the brother-in-law of Kundra, surfaced.
Kundra is the owner of Viaan Industries Ltd, jointly promoted by the couple, while Bakshi — a British citizen, who is married to Kundra’s sister — is the Chairman of Kenrin Ltd., London.
The HotShots app — described as the “world’s first 18+ app” showcasing some of the hottest models and celebs globally in exclusive photos, short films and hot videos (implying soft-to-hard porn) – was removed from mobile platforms. Similarly, Apple and Google have removed the app because of the pornographic content in it.
In all, eleven persons – including Kundra, his aide Ryan John Tharpe and Kamat, have been arrested in connection with the pornography racket. They are: TV actress Gehna Vashisht (32) Yasmin Baig Khan alias Rowa Khan (40) Monu Joshi (28) Pratibha Nalavade (33) Atif Ahmed (24), Shaan Banerjee alias Dipankar Khasnavis (38), Bhanusuryam Thakur ( 26) Tanvir Hashmi (40) and Umesh Kamat (39).
Model-actress Gehana Vashisth, while Yasmin Rowa Khan was the producer-director. Kamat was the frontman for Kundra. Pratibha was the graphic designer, Joshi was cameraman.
Gahna and Kamat were both involved in producing and shooting porn, writing scripts; they also sent copies of their scripts to Kundra.
In a related development, Gehna – who is currently on bail – has claimed that she was arrested wrongly in the case. "Those videos are just adult videos. They are of erotic nature. None of them falls under the category of porn," she said.
On their part, the investigators are examining call records on her phone and information on her laptop both of which they seized.