A Mumbai magistrate court has recently ordered the prosecution to file a reply to an application filed by businessman Raj Kundra, within 30 days.
In his petition, Kundra sought a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on the articles collected and seized and sent by the Investigating Officer in his case.
Kundra had already filed an application seeking discharge in the porn filming case through his lawyer, Prashant Patil.
However, the prosecution objected on the grounds that the FSL report – a critical piece of evidence – had not yet been received by the investigators. According to the prosecution, the application for release cannot be decided without the necessary proof.
Kundra’s legal team subsequently filed a new application, requesting that the court “direct the Superintendent of Kalina Laboratory to submit the Forensic Reports pertaining to the articles seized and sent by the Investigating Officer.”
The application requested that these reports be sent as soon as possible, “preferably within 30 days.”
During the hearing on Thursday, Patil emphasized that the court must first consider his FSL plea before deciding on his discharge. He claimed that the FSL report could take many years to complete, so it was critical that the prosecution have all of the data before it in a timely manner before the discharge motion is decided.
However, public prosecutor MS Chaudhari objected to this submission, claiming that Kundra’s discharge motion had been held for hearing and that Patil had to make his submissions first before anything else was heard.
After hearing both parties, the court ordered Chaudhari to file a response to the FSL application before advancing.
Raj Kundra was apprehended by Mumbai Police’s crime section in July 2021, together with his company’s IT director, Ryan Thorpe. The arrest was made for allegedly making and distributing pornographic films through a mobile app called ‘HotShots,’ which is subscriber-driven.
Kundra was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 34 (common purpose), 292 and 293 (relating to obscene and indecent advertisements and displays), as well as parts of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
Kundra was granted bail in September 2021, following the filing of a chargesheet against him by the Mumbai Police.
He filed his discharge application in 2022, stating that the evidence gathered during the inquiry does not support even a prima facie case against Kundra “due to a lack of proof of essential ingredients.”
