MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police invoked the more serious charge of cheating under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code in an FIR registered against actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra and her businessman husband Raj Kundra. This followed fresh material gathered during the investigation, police said.In Aug, the EOW booked Shilpa and Kundra under the IPC sections of 403 and 406 for dishonest misappropriation of property and criminal breach of trust.
They allegedly cheated a Mumbai-based businessman, Deepak Kothari, of Rs 60.48 crore in connection with a loan-cum-investment deal involving their now-defunct company, Best Deal TV Pvt Ltd.The couple challenged the FIR in the Bombay High Court, calling it baseless and malicious. They claimed it was a civil dispute over a failed business venture, not a crime, and moved to quash the case, which the EOW is investigating. The HC directed them to deposit Rs 60 crore or furnish a bank guarantee from a nationalised bank if they wished to remove their name from the Lookout Circular. YNA Legal LLP’s Yusuf Iqbal and Zain Shroff, represented the complainant.
