Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra in trouble; accused of fraud of Rs 60.4 crore, EOW registered a case

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra are once again seen in trouble. Shilpa and Raj Kundra, along with an unknown person, have been accused of committing a Rs 60 crore fraud. In this regard, the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) has registered a case against Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kudra for cheating a Mumbai businessman of Rs 60.4 crore.

This fraud was committed about a loan-cum-investment deal involving their now-defunct company, Best Deal TV Private Limited. Due to this now a case was registered against the actress and her husband under sections of fraud and forgery at Juhu police station. However, since the amount involved is more than Rs 10 crore, the case was transferred to the EOW. The case was registered following a preliminary inquiry into a complaint filed by Deepak Kothari, a Juhu resident and director of Lotus Capital Financial Services, an NBFC.

The complainant Deepak Kothari said that a person named Rajesh Arya introduced him to Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty, who were directors of home shopping and online retail platform Best Deal TV Pvt Ltd. Shilpa and Raj Kundra allegedly owned 87.6% shares of the company at that time. The accused allegedly sought a loan of Rs 75 crore at 12 per cent interest, but later convinced him to invest the money as an investment to avoid higher taxation, and was assured of monthly returns and principal.

The complainant claimed that he transferred Rs 31.9 crore under a share subscription agreement in April 2015 and Rs 28.53 crore under a supplementary agreement in September 2015. The FIR states that despite giving a personal guarantee in April 2016, Shilpa Shetty resigned as director in September 2016. Kothari later learnt that bankruptcy proceedings were underway against the company for defaulting on another agreement in 2017. The entire matter is currently under investigation.