Raj Kundra, Poonam Pandey, Sherlyn Chopra granted anticipatory bail by Supreme Court in pornography case

Raj Kundra, businessman and husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, was granted relief in the pornography case on Tuesday as the Supreme Court granted him and four others anticipatory bail in the case. The others, who were granted relief by the apex court include actors Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey. The case involves an FIR against them for allegedly distributing pornographic videos. Also read: Raj Kundra reacts for 1st time on his arrest in porn case

On Tuesday, a bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna also directed all the accused to cooperate in the investigation. “Having heard the counsel for the parties, we are of the view that the petitioners may be granted anticipatory bail,” the bench said.

Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for one of the accused, submitted that a chargesheet has already been filed in the case and the accused are cooperating with the the investigation. Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted Raj interim protection from arrest in the case.

Raj, who is married to actor Shilpa Shetty, was arrested in the case in July 2021 and released on bail later in the year. An FIR was registered against Raj and others after a woman approached the police and made certain allegations. The case was transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch. Raj was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 292 and 293 (related to obscene and indecent advertisements and displays) and sections of the Information Technology Act and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act. The FIR named Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey as co-accused.

His lawyers claimed that he was in no way connected to content creation, publication or transmission of alleged illegal videos even as the actors, who were named as co-accused, had given full consent to shoot the videos.

Since his bail, Raj has largely kept a low profile and only appears in public wearing full face masks. In September, he reacted to the case in a rare social media post. Sharing a picture of himself, Raj captioned the post, “One Year Today released from #ArthurRoad Its a matter of time Justice will be served! The truth will be out soon! Thank you well-wishers and a bigger thank you to the trollers you make me stronger (folded hands emoji).”

(With PTI inputs)