COPS have seized 48 terabytes of “mostly adult” images and videos from Shilpa Shetty’s home in a raid following her husband’s arrest over his alleged involvement in a porn production ring.
Businessman Raj Kundra was arrested last week by police in Mumbai after allegedly luring a woman into making an X-rated film with the promise of an acting job.
His custody has been extended until July 27 amid an ongoing investigation, with his wife Ms Shetty denying any involvement in the alleged offenses.
Officers seized 48 terabytes of images and videos from the Bollywood star’s home during a search on Friday, and cops are now seeking to clone her phone and may also bring her in for a second round of questioning, reports the Times of India.
One terabyte is equal to around one million megabytes – with one photo usually one or two megabytes, and a ten-minute video around 240 megabytes.
Ms Shetty – who won Big Brother in 2007 – told cops when questioned that she believed Mr Kundra was innocent and claimed his co-accused Pradeep Bakshi was the one involved with the “Hotshot” mobile app, which allegedly streamed pornographic content, reports the Mail.
She told police she was “unaware of the exact nature of the content” on the app, describing it as “erotica” rather than pornography.
Cops are investigating whether Ms Shetty benefitted from her husband’s alleged links to the porn film business as part of her position as director of his firm, Viaan, from which she has now resigned after allegations came to light.
An investigation was launched on February 3 after a woman approached the cops and complained about being forced to do a porn film after being promised an acting job, according to the Press Trust of India.
The film company was allegedly set up by Kundra and his brother and registered in the UK to evade Indian cyber-laws.
‘KEY CONSPIRATOR’
Kundra has reportedly left the company and denied any wrongdoing.
“We’ve arrested Raj Kundra in this case as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this,” the Mumbai police commissioner said in a statement last week.
The videos were allegedly shot in houses and hotels rented in Mumbai, transferred using WeTransfer to the UK and released on paid mobile apps.
The models were wooed with promises of film offers and “forced” to shoot naked scenes for porn films, according to reports.
Kundra, who lives in Mumbai with his Bollywood actress wife and two children, faces charges of cheating and “obscene and indecent advertisements and displays”.
Publishing or transmitting “obscene” material including porn is illegal in India and punishable by up to seven years in jail.
Model and actress Poonam Pandey previously filed a complaint against Kundra and his associate in the Bombay High Court after claiming Kundra’s company had misused her photographs.
Kundra dismissed the allegations against him and said he had nothing to do with it.
Ms Shetty – one of Bollywood’s most profiled and photographed stars -married businessman Raj Kundra in 2009.
She shot to fame in the UK in 2007 when she won the fifth series of reality TV series Celebrity Big Brother – during which she became caught up in race row involving Jade Goody, Jo O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd.
Viewers were left outraged after Jade’s mother Jackiey mispronounced the actress’s name as ‘Shiwpa’ – while the others mocked her Indian accent and referred to her as “The Indian”.
The race row sparked over 54,000 viewer complaints regarding the treatment of Shilpa in the house as well as international outrage.
It lead to Jade being evicted and facing complete silence upon leaving the house after Big Brother took the unprecedented decision to not have a live audience waiting for her.
Shilpa went on to win the show with 63 percent of the final vote, closely followed by runner-up Jermaine Jackson and actor Dirk Benedict in third place.
The scandal prompted the show to stop broadcasting until 2010 after Ofcom ruled Channel 4 had breached its code of conduct for airing the alleged racist comments.
itsun
