No Direct Link Between Raj Kundra & Pornography Racket Found; ED Focus On Money Trail & Shell Companies

Photo courtesy Mid Day

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has not found any direct link between Raj Kundra and the pornography racket. The agency had initiated a money laundering probe after the Mumbai Police named the businessman in an alleged pornography racket in May 2022.

Instead, the ED is focusing on the money trail linked to various bank transactions of a UK-based company, Kenrin, which is associated with several shell companies connected to money laundering, The Free Press Journal quoted official sources as saying. The federal agency found that Kenrin is owned by Pradeep Bakshi, the official promoter of the HotShot app and Raj Kundra’s brother-in-law . This firm is allegedly involved in numerous transactions with shell companies based in India.

In January 2019, Saurabh Kushwah, the founder and CEO of Arms Prime Media Limited, urged Kundra to invest in the company, considering the popularity and business scope of OTT platforms. Kundra accepted the proposal. Kundra was associated with AMPL from February 5, 2019, until December 12 of that year. During this period, they developed the HotShot app, according to the report.

This app was later sold to Kenrin for $25,000. However, Kundra’s company Vihan collaborated with Kenrin for the maintenance of the HotShot app. ED is verifying the bank transactions to determine how, when, and from which accounts substantial amounts of money were moved to the accounts of Vihan and other company accounts for maintenance purposes.

The ED is auditing all high-volume transactions in bank accounts associated with Kundra and his companies, including those from shell companies, sources told the publication, adding that it is yet to be established whether the sexual content loaded on the HotShot app’s platform is directly linked to Kundra.