Journey of Raj Kundra: From IPL owner to Porn Movies Producer
Businessman Raj Kundra has hit the headlines after his arrest by the Mumbai police for having a connection in the production and distribution of pornographic content. Kundra has been involved in many controversies. Be it money laundering, drama from a first marriage or a criminal case from Poonam Pandey, he has had it all.
Going back to the beginning of Raj Kundra
Born in Ludhiana, he migrated to the United Kingdom in childhood. At the age of 18, he went to Dubai and then later to Nepal, where he started a shawl business. He later began selling shawls to fashion companies in Britain that lead to an increase in his fortunes. After entering the construction sector in Dubai, he developed connections in Bollywood and got into film production. He met Shilpa Shetty and married her.
Together they owned the Rajasthan Royals team in the Indian Premier League (IPL). But, this ownership didn’t last for long as in 2013 came Kundra’s major scandal for match-fixing. He was alleged to have a role in spot-fixing and was banned for a lifetime from IPL.
The current case involves Kundra in an adult film racket. Earlier this year, the Mumbai police had arrested a group of people for allegedly forcing women into porn movies. The group was targeting models and females who aspired to enter Bollywood. They forced these women to act in pornographic content on the pretext of giving them roles.
The movies were circulated on mobile apps, offering subscriptions along the lines of mainstream OTT platforms. They would then advertise on social media platforms to promote such content. Since pornography is illegal in India, this too was against the law.
The police then believed two aspects of this racket. One was catching those that produced these explicit adult content and those who circulated these tapes. Quite a bit of the production houses broadcasting such content was traced from servers outside the country. One such production house was sourced to a UK based organisation found uploading such content. The executive of that company, Umesh Kamat, was charged and arrested. It was then discovered that Kundra’s alleged connection to Kamat and the company that uploaded such pornographic content brought him into the controversy.
After his arrest, Kundra was booked under various IPC sections. IPC 420 that deals with cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property. IPC 34 condemns acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention. IPC 292 and 293, that’s related to obscene and indecent advertisements and displays
Kundra might also face charges in accordance to the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
