After being questioned by the Crime Branch on Sunday, Tanvir Hashmi, one of the persons allegedly involved in the Raj Kundra porn case, said the videos in question could not be called porn, and that he had never met the arrested billionaire.
Out on bail, Hashmi spoke to the media after being summoned by the Crime Branch. Actor Gehana Vasisth, and two other persons were also summoned in the case for questioning, but failed to appear.
On July 20, Mumbai police arrested Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband, billionaire Raj Kundra, in connection with an alleged porn racket. Raj Kundra’s company, which is owned by Kundra’s brother-in-law, used to manage an online streaming programme that allegedly generated porn videos in collaboration with a London-based firm. Kundra was arrested and held in police custody until July 23, a date that has now been extended to July 27.
Reportedly known to edit the alleged porn videos, Hashmi said he had told the investigating agency that the said videos could not be called porn and that he had never met Kundra before. He was questioned for five hours by the Crime Branch.
According to reports, Hashmi was found to be producing and directing the alleged films when raids were conducted at his bungalow in Madh Island on February 3.
However, actor Gehana Vashishth and two other persons failed to appear for questioning on Sunday, a police official said. After Kundra’s arrest, Vashishth, who worked in three films produced for Kundra’s app, had in a video said erotic content was different from pornography.
Before the Mumbai crime branch took over the case, there was a complaint with the Maharashtra cyber department about the porn films racket, a senior police official earlier said. The Malwani police had filed FIRs based on complaints received from two women, while another one woman had submitted a complaint at the Lonavla police station, around 120 km from Mumbai, he said.
The Mumbai crime branch had started an investigation into the case after some victims approached the Malwani police station in February 2021, he said.
During investigation it came to light that some small-time artists were lured by giving them a break in some web series or short stories, he had said. These actors were called for auditions and were asked to give ‘bold’ scenes, which later turned out to be semi-nude or nude scenes, which were against the wishes of the actors, the official had said.
During the investigation, it also came to light that many porn-related apps were operating in the cyber world, he said. The police then arrested producer Roma Khan, her husband, actress Gehana Vashishth, director Tanveer Hashmi, and Umesh Kamath (who used to look after India operations of Kundra’s firm), he had said.
Vashishth was later granted bail. At least 11 persons have been arrested so far in the case, according to the police.
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