Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty; (below) Kundra’s former wife KavitaFrom Amit Roy

London, Dec. 30: Shilpa Shetty has confirmed she is “dating” Raj Kundra, a London businessman whose former wife, Kavita, had given damaging interviews to the News of the World and the Mail on Sunday in July alleging the Bollywood actress had prevented a possible reconciliation in her admittedly troubled marriage.

Shilpa angrily denied those claims at the time, pointing out she had only a business relationship with Kundra whom she had met only after he and his wife had separated.

However, what may have started as a business relationship with Kundra, who has bankrolled the launch of Shilpa’s perfume, S2 (memo: written as S squared) and promoted her musical, Miss Bollywood, appears to be developed into a personal one.

The Mail on Sunday, which once gave generous space to Kavita’s claims about how her husband had dumped her and their baby, Deleena, born on September 9, 2006, has today accorded much space to carrying Shilpa’s happy news.

It said she had previously been “coy” about discussing her personal life but this was no longer so.

Shilpa and Kundra are both 32 and in “anything goes” modern Britain, few white people, at any rate, will disapprove of the fact that a Bollywood actress is now going out with a man who was once married. In marked contrast, one of the contestants on Celebrity Big Brother, model Danielle Lloyd, has been through several footballer boyfriends since she was dumped by Terry Sheringham, another footballer about whom she had spoken constantly when she was on the reality television show.

However, Shilpa has a British Asian constituency, which may prove more judgmental since she has set herself up as an “ambassador for India”.

“Prompted perhaps by a new-found sense of happiness and security, Shilpa has confirmed to the Mail on Sunday that she and Raj (Kundra) are an item, her first romance since she arrived on British television screens last winter,” the paper said. “In an unusually frank interview, the actress-turned reality TV star reveals that the new relationship has transformed her life, bringing a long period of loneliness to an end.”

Although Kundra is described as a rich, young man, no one in London society had heard of him until he attached himself to Shilpa.

Back in July, Shilpa had issued a rambling statement, nearly 1,000 words long, protesting she had not stolen Kundra from his wife. Their common interest was business, she asserted.

In today’s interview, she has changed her tune.

Although she did not mention Kundra by name, she told the paper shyly: “I am dating somebody. I have known him for some time but I have only just started to know him better. I hope he will be the one but I don’t want to say too much because it is still very early on in our relationship.”

The paper said: “It is pretty clear that the man in question is Raj (Kundra).”

Shilpa did say: “I’m not going to deny that it’s him but please don’t say it is because I don’t want to frighten him off.”

The paper noted the couple’s body language was “unmistakably intimate” when she was dropped off for the interview and collected afterwards by Kundra.

“He respects and understands what I do and it is nice to be cared for,” explained Shilpa. “I have been very lonely for a very long time and it is nice to know I have somebody to look forward to seeing at the end of the day. At last I feel normal. It has been an incredible year for me but I have also been very lonely. I have been away from home, in a foreign country and I haven't had a boyfriend for a very long time. I need someone to woo me.”

Shilpa rejected the charges of impropriety that had been made by Kavita, who is said to resemble the actress.

“I was really upset by what she said,” commented Shilpa. “She knew very well that I didn’t even know her husband when she walked out on him. I didn’t even know him when I went into Big Brother. I have known him for about only six months, which was four months after his wife had left home and he had already got a divorce by then.”

The Mail on Sunday sought to set the new relationship in a cultural context: “As an Indian woman of 32, Shilpa is coming under increasing pressure to marry – and her forceful mother, Sunanda, is said to approve of Kundra as a match.”