THE BOMBAY HIGH COURT delayed hearing on a petition filed by businessman Raj Kundra, who claimed that his arrest in the adult film case was unconstitutional since he was not sent legal notices as required by law.
Kundra, along with his accomplice Ryan Thorpe, who was also detained, has requested interim bail pending the outcome of his application to have the case dismissed.
While they were streaming porn on smartphone applications HotShots and Bollyfame, Mumbai Police seized 51 pornographic videos, as well as material from personal PCs, cellphones, and storage devices, according to the HC.
They noted that it was not possible to be a “mute spectator” while the accused were deleting evidence, and they arrested them to prevent this.
According to Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai, who is representing Mumbai Police, the police raided Kundra’s office in Mumbai on July 19 and discovered information concerning Hotshots, including the number of subscribers, payments received, account details, and obscene movies.
Police also discovered a message from Kundra’s brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi, who runs Kenrin Private Limited in the United Kingdom and is a sought suspect in the investigation, according to her. According to the police, Kenrin owned Hotshots, a website where pornographic information was posted.
According to the police, Kundra and Thorpe, his IT technician, were officially served notice under Section 41A of the CrPC, which requires him to appear before a police officer to avoid unnecessary arrest. The notice was accepted by Thorpe, but not by Kundra.
“Instead of cooperating, they started deleting content from WhatsApp groups and chats. Thus, they started destroying evidence. When an accused starts destroying evidence, investigating authorities cannot be mute spectators, they have to prevent them. Therefore, in order to prevent them, they were arrested,” Pai argued.
She went on to say that the accused was then charged with violating Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for causing the disappearance of evidence).
On Monday, the HC scheduled a physical hearing for the case.
