Mumbai: Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra have been denied permission by Bombay High Court to travel to Phuket, in Thailand, for a leisure trip.
The celebrity couple, being investigated for a Rs 60-crore cheating case linked to their now-defunct firm Best Deal TV Pvt. Ltd, had sought suspension of the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against them so that they can travel abroad. The actress and her businessman spouse had specifically approached the Bombay High Court seeking permission to fly to Phuket between October 2 and 5 for a leisure trip, citing confirmed travel and hotel bookings.
Refusing to grant any interim relief to Shilpa and Raj, a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad directed public prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh to file a reply to the couple’s plea. The court set October 8 as the date for next hearing.
Advocates Niranjan Mundargi and Keral Mehta, who appeared for Shilpa and Raj, argued that despite a previous case registered against them in 2021, they had travelled overseas multiple times and had always returned to cooperate with the investigation. Hence, the couple should be allowed to travel even as the present probe continues, the advocates contended.
The cheating case was registered on the complaint of Deepak Kothari, Director of UY Industries Pvt. Ltd, who alleged that he was induced by Raj and Shilpa to invest in the venture between 2015 and 2023. Kothari invested Rs 60.48 crore by way of loan under an investment agreement, against which Shilpa had issued a personal guarantee, the complainant claimed.
Kundra has maintained that he has cooperated with the probe and appeared before the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on September 15 in response to summons.
Besides mentioning their proposed trip to Phuket, Shilpa and Raj also mentioned in the plea their other upcoming international travel commitments. They informed the court that they have to travel to Los Angeles for work between October 21 and 24, followed by a trip to Colombo and the Maldives between October 26 and 29 for expansion of their hospitality venture, Hotel Bastian.
They also sought permission to visit Dubai and London between December 20 and January 6, 2026, to meet Raj’s parents.
They have to wait and see what the court decides at the next hearing.
