Raj Kundra walks out of Mumbai jail after bail in pornographic films case
Mumbai (PTI): Businessman Raj Kundra on Tuesday walked out of a Mumbai jail, a day after a magistrate court here granted bail to the key accused in a pornographic films case in which he was arrested two months ago.
Kundra was released from the Arthur Road jail shortly after 11.30 am, a jail official said.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SB Bhajipale on Monday allowed Kundra's bail application on furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000.
Kundra's associate and co-accused Ryan Thorpe, who was arrested along with him on July 19, was also granted bail by the court in the case pertaining to alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps.
The 46-year-old businessman was lodged in Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai under judicial custody.
Kundra, the husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, was arrested by the Mumbai police's crime branch after being booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Information Technology Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
Kundra moved a bail plea before the metropolitan magistrate court on Saturday, days after the police filed a supplementary charge-sheet in the case.
In the plea, filed through advocate Prashant Patil, Kundra claimed there was not even an iota of evidence till date with the prosecution that would connect the app 'Hotshots', used in the alleged porn films racket, with an offence under law.
As per the probe agency, the 'Hotshots' app was being used by accused persons for uploading and streaming obscene content.
The businessman claimed there was no evidence of him being "actively" involved in creation of alleged questionable porn content.
Kundra alleged he was falsely implicated, was not even named in the FIR and was dragged by the respondent (police) in the case.
The businessman claimed in the plea that he is being made a "scapegoat" for reasons best known to investigators.
There is not a single allegation in the entire supplementary charge-sheet against Kundra, Patil submitted before the court. Contents of the complaint in the case do not disclose any prima facie offence against Kundra, he said.
The public prosecutor opposed Kundra's application, saying just because the charge-sheet has been filed, it does not imply bail is to be granted to the accused.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Bhajipale, after hearing both sides, allowed Kundra's application on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 50,000.
The police, in their supplementary charge-sheet, had claimed Kundra was the "main facilitator" in the case and he along with other accused exploited young women struggling in the movie industry by filming them in obscene ways.
The nearly 1,500-page charge-sheet against Kundra and Thorpe was filed in the court on September 15 by the crime branch.
Besides Kundra and Thorpe, Yash Thakur, a resident of Singapore, and London-based Pardeep Bakshi have been shown as wanted accused in the charge-sheet.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
