Porn films case: Shilpa Shetty-Raj Kundra's joint bank account under scanner

Shilpa Shetty with her husband Raj Kundra. Pic/AFP

The overseas financial transactions of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, who has a joint account with her husband Raj Kundra, are now under the scanner of the Mumbai Crime Branch. The police officials are probing an alleged pornography racket in which Kundra is a key conspirator.

On Friday, Shetty was questioned about transactions made from the joint account by Crime Branch officials, who also carried out searches at their residence.

According to sources, Shetty was asked around 20 to 25 questions, and most of them were about international transactions. The couple's joint account is in a nationalised bank. "The funds have come from abroad through various routes. The same has been examined and we are also taking the help of forensic investigators," an officer said, on condition of anonymity.

"She was questioned about those transactions, and everything she has said is being verified. If required, we will question her again for clarity," he added.

The police suspect that money was transferred by a London-based company called Kenrin Limited, which is owned by Kundra's brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi, who is now a wanted accused in the case. The officer clarified that the money has not come directly to the joint account, but from other routes.

On Friday, while seeking Kundra's further remand, the Crime Branch, in their application, said that he received money from Mercuri International company's United Bank of Africa. The said company is into betting and casino gaming. During further investigation, the agency also found that some videos were uploaded on Hotshot from Kundra's Andheri office using a foreign IP address to evade Indian law enforcement agencies. "We have seized a server from his office, called SAN (storage area network). During examination, with the help of experts, it was found that some videos were uploaded from his office on a foreign IP address using a virtual private network (VPN). The forensic team is trying to get more clarity on this," the officer said.

So far, the Crime Branch has claimed that Kundra's former PA, who was also working for Kenrin Limited as an operations manager in Mumbai, would send videos through WeTransfer and the same were being uploaded by Kenrin Limited on the Hotshot app.