Pornography case: Raj Kundra, Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey granted anticipatory bail by SC; All you need to know about the adult film racket

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Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman Raj Kundra's name cropped up in the Pornography case which sent shock waves across the country. Following this, an FIR was filed against Raj Kundra, Poonam Pandey and Sherlyn Chopra for allegedly distributing pornographic videos.

On Tuesday, a bench of Justices of the Supreme Court granted anticipatory bail to all three namely Raj Kundra, Poonam Pandey and Sherlyn Chopra. Supreme Court's decision comes weeks after Raj Kundra's plea for pre-arrest protection was rejected by the Bombay High Court in the case.

Supreme Court grants anticipatory bail to Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra and actors Poonam Panday and Sherlyn Chopra

Reacting to the bail, Raj Kundra's lawyer Prashant Patil said in a statement, "The honourable supreme court has granted and confirmed the anticipatory bail to Mr. Raj Kundra. Prima facie because the chargesheet was filed in the same case and Mr. Raj Kundra has been cooperating with the investigative agencies throughout since the FIR was filed. These submissions were made by us in front of the honorable supreme court. The honorable court has confirmed the anticipatory bail which was granted almost 8 months ago. Mr. Raj Kundra shall initiate all the legal steps necessary in accordance with the law to ensure that he gets justice from the court in Mumbai."

All you need to know about Raj Kundra's involvement in the allegedly pornographic case

A chargesheet was filed by the Maharashtra Cyber Police accusing Raj Kundra of creating pornographic content and distributing it on streaming platforms. According to a news portal, Shilpa Shetty's husband was also allegedly accused of adult content at five-star hotels along with Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey, film producer Meeta Jhunjhunwala and cameraman Raju Dubey.

Timeline of Raj Kundra's case

Raj Kundra founded Arms Prime Media Pvt Ltd in February 2019.

Six months later, the business released Hotshot, a mobile phone application that has been dubbed the "porn streaming app" by police.

The app was then sold for $25,000 to Kenrin Ltd., a London-based company run by Kundra's cousin Pardeep Bakshi.

Kundra resigned from Arms Prime Media in December 2019, reportedly he used to control the app's whole functioning through three WhatsApp groups. After this, Apple App Store banned the Hotshots app in June 2020, while Google Play Store withdrew the app in November 2020. The content was the reason in both cases.

In February 2021, Mumbai Police filed a complaint against Raj after a woman complained to them about being compelled to shoot a pornographic film.

On July 19, 2021, Mumbai police arrested Raj Kundra along with 10 other people on charges related to the alleged creation of pornographic films, He was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Information Technology Act, and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

Terms and conditions for obtaining the anticipatory bail

Later, he was sent to judicial custody till July 23, 2021. In September, Raj was granted bail in a pornography case by a magistrate court and walked out of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai on furnishing a bond of ₹50,000.