Raj Kundra On Divorce From First Wife: 'Maintained My Silence For 12 Years But Enough Is Enough'

Swati Deshpande (THE TIMES OF INDIA; August 3, 2021)

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday concluded hearing in Raj Kundra’s challenge to his arrest and remand in connection with a case of alleged “production and streaming of pornographic content” via apps, and reserved his plea for orders. His lawyer reiterated that the prosecution’s submission of the businessman deleting some chats on the day of the search to justify his arrest was an “afterthought.” Kundra was arrested on July 19 by Mumbai police and has been in magisterial custody in jail since July 27.

Senior counsel Abad Ponda, in his rebuttal before Justice Ajay Gadkari to public prosecutor Aruna Pai’s submissions, said the seizure panchanama after the search and remand plea did not show anything about deletion of chats which the state is stressing on now. “It does not change the position that there is no record of deletion (on July 19),” he said.

Pai added more videos were found by police on two apps which were “obscene and bold films.” She said police had served Kundra and his co-accused Ryan Thorpe the Section 41A notice under CrPC (a provision to seek appearance of suspect before police station for an explanation when intention is not to arrest immediately when offence attracts up to 7 years’ imprisonment). She said while Thorpe accepted the notice, Kundra had refused, and police arrested him for non-cooperation and for deleting data.

Ponda said police’s case is “falsified” as “apparently the mobile is taken charge of in the panchanama.” He said the seizure record will show his “mobile is in custody of the police.” He said from Kundra, two hard disks, one laptop and one mobile phone were taken charge of under the panchnama. “If this is so, then necessarily, the petitioner (Kundra) cannot delete data or WhatsApp groups or WhatsApp chats,” said Ponda, assisted by advocate Subhash Jadhav. The PP said deletion of chats was prior to serving of the notice.

Even Thorpe’s counsel Abhinav Chandrachud argued the second remand never mentioned any July 19 “deletion” but to a prior “February 2021” attempt. Thorpe also challenge his arrest and remand as illegal, and HC will now pronounce its order in both their petitions.
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Cops tell court that Kundra deleted his iCloud account but they were able to retrieve some emails with the help of cyber experts
Faizan Khan (MID-DAY; August 3, 2021)

The Bombay High Court, hearing Raj Kundra’s plea challenging his arrest by the Mumbai Crime Branch, reserved its order in the case after hearing both sides on Monday. The Crime Branch informed the Bombay High Court that they have recovered 68 porn videos from Raj Kundra’s laptop and that he deleted his iCloud account.

Kundra’s plea claims that due process was not followed in his arrest. The Mumbai Crime Branch in its reply to the court claimed that they cannot be mute spectators when the accused is destroying all evidence. Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai claimed that a notice under Section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the CrPC was served to Kundra and his associate, Ryan Thorpe, and that Kundra refused to accept it.

The Crime Branch claims that it has been able to retrieve some emails from iCloud with the help of cyber experts. The public prosecutor also mentioned WhatsApp chats between Kundra, his brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi and Thorpe, where they are discussing the platform Bollyfame. Apart from 68 porn videos, the Crime Branch cited a presentation about the app HotShots found on Kundra’s laptop and claimed that he was running the app from his Mumbai office. The presentation contained details of financial projections and marketing strategies, and the laptop also allegedly contained scripts of sexual content.

The public prosecutor further told the court that the Storage Area Network (SAN) recovered from Kundra’s office has 51 porn clips and some were deleted by Thorpe, who handled IT, on Kundra’s instructions. The Crime Branch also claimed that Kundra has a British passport.

Kundra’s defence lawyer Abad Ponda countered the police’s claim saying, “If the hard disk and mobile phones were seized by police, then how was evidence destroyed. The destruction has also not been mentioned in the panchanama. Around 22 people were present during the panchanama. How come no one noticed that?”
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Hearing on pre-arrest bail plea in obscenity case adjourned

Mumbai: A sessions court on Monday adjourned the hearing in the anticipatory bail plea moved by UK businessman Raj Kundra in an obscenity case being investigated by the cyber crime police. The court extended the interim relief from arrest till Saturday. In November 2020, cops had registered an FIR against 14 OTT platforms and web portals for obscene content based on a complaint by a retired customs official. Summons were sent to the heads of these platforms and portals, besides some actors in the videos. Kundra is currently in custody in a case being investigated by the crime branch. Kundra’s name surfaced after the property cell probing the case stumbled upon the involvement of a UK production company, Kenrin, and police arrested its executive, Umesh Kamat.