MUMBAI: The public prosecutor on Saturday informed the Bombay HC that “51 pornographic films were seized” from two apps by Mumbai crime branch and
Raj Kundra and
Ryan Thorpe
were arrested as they had “started deleting
WhatsApp group and chats”, hence “destroying evidence.”
Public prosecutor
Aruna Pai
was opposing the duo’s separate challenges to their arrest and remand which they said was “illegal” as there was “no compliance” to a CrPC notice for their explanation, mandated when an offence attracts a maximum of seven years’ punishment.
At a hearing via video-conferencing before the bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari, Pai said the duo is accused of “serious offences of porn streaming content” and that police “also seized material from phone and storage device”. She said there was an “email message from
Kundra
on his Hotshot app with
Pardeep Bakshi
, his brother-in-law, who owns a company in London.”
Police “found obscene and bold videos” and information on a number of subscribers, payments received, she said. Earlier,
Aabad Ponda
, Kundra’s counsel, had said police had not mentioned any deleting of chats in their first remand and questioned its noninclusion. The court will continue the hearing on Monday.
Swati Deshpande is Senior editor at The Times of India, Mumbai, w...
Read MoreSwati Deshpande is Senior editor at The Times of India, Mumbai, where she has been covering courts for over a decade. She is passionate about law and works towards enlightening people about their statutory, legal and fundamental rights. She makes it her job to decipher for the public the truth, be it in an intricate civil dispute or in a gruesome criminal case.
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