Porn profits doubled year-on-year, 2023-24 target was Rs 34 crore: Cops

The first charge sheet filed by the Mumbai police in an alleged pornography racket involving businessman Raj Kundra contains a presentation that projected gross revenue of Rs 1460000000 and net profit of Rs 304201400 for Bollyfame Media Limited for the year 202324 The company was allegedly launched by Kundra as Plan B to shift content from HotShotThe HotShot app run by Londonbased Kernin limited was pulled down by Google and Apple over policy violations In WhatsApp chats with Kundra his former personal assistant and coaccused Umesh Kamat expressed relief at the existence of BF BollyfameThe presentation included in the charge sheet projects gross revenue and net profits for the years 202122 202223 and 202324Raj Kundra File picThe presentation projected gross revenue of Rs 365000000 and net profit of Rs 47685000 for 202122 gross revenue of around Rs 730000000 and the same net profit for 202223 gross revenue of Rs 1460000000 with a net profit of Rs 304201400 for 202324The charge sheet did not specify if the projection was for Bollyfame or some other companyldquoThe documents were seized from Kamat Kundra was not arrested when we filed the first charge sheet As the investigation progresses we will get more clarity about Bollyfame and the same will be covered in a supplementary charge sheetrdquo a Crime Branch officer saidAccording to the Crime Branch Kundra managed Bollyfame from India and most of the content from HotShot was transferred to Bollyfame after the former was pulled down ldquoAfter a forensic analysis of the server from his Kundrarsquos office we will get more clarity on what was uploadedrdquo the officer said The server was seized on July 20 during raids at the premises of Viaan Industries and JL Streaming companies which Kundra ownsldquoWhatsApp chats between Kamat Kundra and his brotherinlaw Pradeep Bakshi clearly state that he had the Plan B in the form of Bollyfame in case HotShot faces legal issues He was also planning to get celebrities to livestream on Bollyfame saying it will bring more revenues and subscriptions than Hotshot that has uploaded contentrdquo the officer saidAlso read Porn racket case Mumbai Crime Branch seizes Raj Kundras bank accounts in KanpurActress to record statementThe Crime Branch has summoned actress Sherlyn Chopra as a witness to record her statement in the case In a video message recently Chopra said that she was the first person to reach out to the state cyber cell when they registered a case against various OTT platforms including HotShot in November last yearChopra claimed that she gave crucial details about Armsprime Media to the cyber cell Armsprime Media develops apps for models celebrities influencers etc and Kundra was a director at the company He later formed HotShot with the platformrsquos help and sold it to Bakshi on December 11 2019lsquoHe is not cooperatingrsquoKundrarsquos custody ends on Tuesday and he will be produced before the court again for a remand hearing The Crime Branch is expected to seek further custody based on the seizure of fresh documents and electronic gadgets from his residence last week ldquoHe is not cooperating in the ongoing probe We have found many documents regarding financial transactions and digital files We will seek further custody to examine theserdquo a senior officer saidThe Bombay High Court is also likely to hear Kundrarsquos petition challenging his arrest on Tuesday The petition argues that his arrest is illegal as due process was not followed by the Crime Branch3No of years for which the projections were made11Day in Dec 2019 Kundra sold HotShot app to his brotherinlaw20Day this month when Crime Branch raided Kundrarsquos residence