Mumbai crime branch files charge sheet against Raj Kundra in porn case

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Wednesday filed a supplementary charge sheet against businessman Raj Kundra, Ryan Thorpe, the IT head of his company Viaan Enterprises, and two others in connection with the pornographic film racket.

In the nearly 1500-page charge-sheet filed before the Esplanade court, Mumbai Police claimed that Raj Kundra was the "main facilitator" in a pornographic content case and he along with other accused exploited young women struggling in the movie industry by filming them in obscene ways

The case against Raj Kundra, arrested in July, related to the alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps.

Two others, Yash Thakur, a resident of Singapore, and London-based Pardeep Bakshi have been shown as wanted accused in the charge-sheet.

The crime branch had, in April this year, filed the first charge-sheet in the case against nine people.

In the voluminous document, the police have said the probe conducted by the property cell of the crime branch has revealed that Kundra was the "main facilitator" in the porn films case.

A lot of evidence against Kundra came to light after technical analysis, witnesses'' statements and from documents confiscated from his office, it said.

The police said Kundra and Thorpe, in conspiracy with the accused arrested earlier, took advantage of financially weak young women who were struggling in the film industry and made obscene movies with them.

The pornographic videos were then uploaded on various websites as well as mobile applications, they said.

These videos were sold through subscriptions and Kundra "illegally" earned millions from them, said the charge-sheet.

Women victims were cheated - they were either given nominal compensation or paid nothing at times, it said.

Kundra and his aide Thorpe also destroyed WhatsApp chats and e-mails from their mobile phones and laptops containing important evidence in the case, the police alleged.

They have been booked under sections of the IPC related to sexual harassment and cheating, among others, as well provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

Kundra and Thorpe were arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on July 19 and are currently in jail under judicial custody. Their bail pleas are pending before a Mumbai sessions court.