Crime Branch says its investigation exposes the ambitious financial plans of the racket; Raj Kundra even had a Plan B after HotShot ran into trouble
Raj Kundra at the Property Cell’s Byculla office on July 20. File pic
The first charge sheet filed by the Mumbai police in an alleged pornography racket involving businessman Raj Kundra contains a presentation that projected gross revenue of Rs 146,00,00,000 and net profit of Rs 30,42,01,400 for Bollyfame Media Limited for the year 2023-24. The company was allegedly launched by Kundra as Plan B to shift content from HotShot.
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The HotShot app, run by London-based Kernin limited, was pulled down by Google and Apple over policy violations. In WhatsApp chats with Kundra, his former personal assistant and co-accused Umesh Kamat, expressed relief at the existence of BF (Bollyfame).
The presentation included in the charge sheet projects gross revenue and net profits for the years 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Raj Kundra. File pic
The presentation projected gross revenue of Rs 36,50,00,000 and net profit of Rs 4,76,85,000 for 2021-22; gross revenue of around Rs 73,00,00,000 and the same net profit for 2022-23, gross revenue of Rs 1,46,00,00,000 with a net profit of Rs 30,42,01,400 for 2023-24.
The charge sheet did not specify if the projection was for Bollyfame or some other company.
“The documents were seized from Kamat. Kundra was not arrested when we filed the first charge sheet. As the investigation progresses, we will get more clarity about Bollyfame and the same will be covered in a supplementary charge sheet,” a Crime Branch officer said.
According to the Crime Branch, Kundra managed Bollyfame from India and most of the content from HotShot was transferred to Bollyfame after the former was pulled down. “After a forensic analysis of the server from his [Kundra’s] office, we will get more clarity on what was uploaded,” the officer said. The server was seized on July 20 during raids at the premises of Viaan Industries and JL Streaming, companies which Kundra owns.
“WhatsApp chats between Kamat, Kundra and his brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi clearly state that he had the Plan B in the form of Bollyfame in case HotShot faces legal issues. He was also planning to get celebrities to live-stream on Bollyfame saying it will bring more revenues and subscriptions than Hotshot that has uploaded content,” the officer said.
Also read: Porn racket case: Mumbai Crime Branch seizes Raj Kundra's bank accounts in Kanpur
Actress to record statement
The Crime Branch has summoned actress Sherlyn Chopra as a witness to record her statement in the case. In a video message recently, Chopra said that she was the first person to reach out to the state cyber cell when they registered a case against various OTT platforms, including HotShot in November last year.
Chopra claimed that she gave crucial details about Armsprime Media to the cyber cell. Armsprime Media develops apps for models, celebrities, influencers, etc. and Kundra was a director at the company. He later formed HotShot with the platform’s help and sold it to Bakshi on December 11, 2019.
‘He is not cooperating’
Kundra’s custody ends on Tuesday and he will be produced before the court again for a remand hearing. The Crime Branch is expected to seek further custody based on the seizure of fresh documents and electronic gadgets from his residence last week. “He is not cooperating in the ongoing probe. We have found many documents regarding financial transactions and digital files. We will seek further custody to examine these,” a senior officer said.
The Bombay High Court is also likely to hear Kundra’s petition challenging his arrest on Tuesday. The petition argues that his arrest is illegal as due process was not followed by the Crime Branch.
3
No. of years for which the projections were made
11
Day in Dec 2019 Kundra sold HotShot app to his brother-in-law
20
Day this month when Crime Branch raided Kundra’s residence
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