The Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered actress Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra to first deposit Rs 60 crore if they wish to travel abroad, as per reports.
Denying permission to travel, the court also refused to pause the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against them.
This comes after the couple filed a plea in the high court seeking the quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with an FIR over an alleged fraud of Rs 60 crore. The high court has adjourned the matter until October 14, LiveLaw reported.
The case, which is being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police, is based on a complaint filed by Mumbai-based Deepak Kothari, a 60-year-old businessman and director of Lotus Capital Financial Services.
In his complaint, Kothari claimed that between 2015 and 2023, Shetty and Kundra used the money he had given them to grow their business for their personal expenses. He said that in 2015, Shetty and Kundra, through a mediator, approached him for a Rs 75 crore loan for their lifestyle company, Best Deal TV Pvt Ltd.
The interest rate was agreed at 12 per cent. However, later they allegedly asked him to treat the sum as an “investment” rather than a loan, promising monthly returns along with repayment of the principal.
Kothari claimed he transferred Rs 31.95 crore in April 2015 in a share subscription agreement and Rs 28.53 crore in September 2015, under a supplementary agreement. The total sum was deposited into company's bank accounts.
Later he learned that the company was already undergoing through an insolvency proceedings for allegedly 'cheating' another investor. Kothari's repeatedly tried to recover his invested sum but failed. He accused the couple of “dishonestly using” the money for their own use. In 2016, Shetty resigned as the director of Best Deal TV.
Shilpa and Raj's lawyer, Prashant Patil, however dismissed the allegations, saying they would present “our truth” before the investigating agencies.
After a preliminary probe, the EOW concluded that Kothari’s funds had been misused and filed a case against Shetty, Kundra, and an unidentified associate under sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
