Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty: The ₹60 Crore Case, Jail Time and Other Legal Storms
Raj Kundra has spent more than a decade in the public eye not just as Shilpa Shetty’s husband, but as a businessman whose companies keep landing in police stations, tribunals and headlines. As of 2026, the couple face a live ₹60 crore cheating investigation in Mumbai, an unfinished 2021 pornography case, an Enforcement Directorate money-laundering trail linked to Bitcoin, and the long shadow of an IPL lifetime ban. None of the biggest pending matters have produced a final criminal conviction. Both have denied wrongdoing. The pattern, however, is hard to miss: celebrity-backed ventures, large sums of other people’s money, failed businesses, and years of litigation.
The ₹60 crore Best Deal TV case
The case that put both names back on the front page began in August 2025. Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing registered an FIR after businessman Deepak Kothari, director of Lotus Capital Financial Services, alleged he was cheated of about ₹60.4–₹60.48 crore.
Best Deal TV Pvt Ltd was a home-shopping and online retail platform launched in 2015. At one stage Shetty held a dominant stake — reports put it as high as 87.61 per cent — and Kundra was a director. Kothari says the couple first asked for a ₹75 crore loan at 12 per cent interest, then persuaded him to recast the money as an equity investment to reduce tax, while still promising monthly returns and repayment of the principal. He transferred ₹31.95 crore in April 2015 under a share subscription agreement and ₹28.53 crore in September 2015 under a supplementary agreement. The money went into Best Deal TV’s bank accounts. In April 2016, Shetty allegedly gave a personal guarantee. In September 2016 she resigned as director.
The channel burned cash quickly. Demonetisation in 2016 hurt a cash-on-delivery model. By 2017 the company was in insolvency at NCLT Mumbai after a vendor default. Liquidation followed. Kothari says he was not told about the insolvency, that recovery attempts dragged on through Covid, and that funds were diverted rather than used to grow the business. Investigators have pointed to money moving through related entities such as Satyug Gold, Viaan Industries, Essential Bulk Commodities and Statement Media. Kundra told police that roughly ₹20 crore went on broadcasting fees and ₹3 crore on warehouse rent, plus celebrity fees. Police have also asked why Shetty, as a director and majority shareholder, allegedly took celebrity fees from her own company. Cheating charges were later added to the original criminal-breach-of-trust sections. A look-out circular followed. The Bombay High Court discussed deposits or bank guarantees before foreign travel.
The couple’s defence is consistent. Lawyers call it an old commercial deal that turned sour and was already before NCLT. They say there is no criminal intent, that auditors have given cash-flow records to the EOW, and that the complaint is an attempt to give a civil dispute a criminal colour after nearly a decade. Shetty has said her role was non-executive, that she had no signing authority over finances, that endorsement fees due to her remain unpaid, and that the family itself loaned about ₹20 crore to the company that was never returned. Criminal liability after nine years, she has argued, is legally unsustainable. Both have given statements. The investigation is still open.
The 2021 Hotshots arrest and 63 days in jail
The case that defined Kundra’s public image started on 19 July 2021. Mumbai Crime Branch arrested him as an alleged key conspirator in producing and circulating adult content through apps such as Hotshots, linked to Viaan Industries and a London firm associated with a relative. A woman had complained she was lured with acting work. Police cited app-store revenue and booked him under the IPC, the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women Act. He spent 63 days in Arthur Road Jail before bail in September 2021.
Kundra has never accepted the charge. He says the films were erotic or “lascivious,” not pornography as defined in law, and that his name was added later. In 2023 he starred in UT 69, a film about his time in custody. In 2026 he was still asking the trial court to finish the case: punish him if he is guilty, discharge him if he is not. He has written to the CBI, called the arrest planned, and said the scandal forced the shutdown of businesses — Rajasthan Royals-linked investments, mixed martial arts, home shopping, Viaan Industries — that employed thousands. He has also said jail rumours about a possible divorce left him suicidal until Shetty reassured him. The ED later examined a money-laundering angle around the same alleged content business. The trial has not delivered a verdict.
Bitcoin, attached properties and a PMLA court
Separate from the EOW FIR is an ED case tied to the GainBitcoin-style crypto scheme. The agency attached assets worth about ₹97.79 crore, including Mumbai flats and a Pune bungalow linked to the couple. Investigators allege Kundra received 285 bitcoins from promoter Amit Bhardwaj — later valued at over ₹150 crore — supposedly to set up a mining farm in Ukraine that never happened, and that some funds were layered through a below-market sale involving Shetty. In January 2026 a special PMLA court found enough material to proceed and issued summons. Kundra has appeared in court, denied the allegations, and obtained bail with conditions. He has described himself in statements as an intermediary, not a mastermind.
IPL, gold schemes and the rest of the file
The older controversies matter because they show how often the same names return. In 2009 the couple invested in Rajasthan Royals through a Mauritius vehicle. After the 2013 IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal, Kundra was questioned by Delhi Police. The Lodha panel, appointed by the Supreme Court, later barred him for life from cricket-related activity. He has always said the “betting” was casual banter, that Delhi Police later told an RTI applicant there was no evidence against him, and that he took the blame to protect the franchise. The ban and the share exit produced years of commercial fights. In 2026 a London court ordered him to repay nearly $5 million after finding he breached a 2019 settlement with the franchise’s remaining owners.
There have been smaller disputes too: a gold-scheme complaint involving Satyug Gold, a textile-company cheating allegation, and an income-tax fight over a ₹12.5 crore “gift” from Kundra to Shetty that the department treated as unexplained credit. The ITAT later sent that gift back for a fresh look. In 2026 the couple also sued an influencer for defamation over Instagram reels and won an interim injunction.
What the record actually shows
Put together, the file is not one “insane scam.” It is a stack of failed or distressed businesses, celebrity shareholding, large incoming cheques, and investigators who say the money did not stay where the paperwork said it would. Best Deal TV went from launch to liquidation. The porn-app case put Kundra in prison for two months and is still unfinished five years later. Crypto attachments sit on family properties. An IPL life ban still stands even as he disputes the facts.
What the record does not yet show is a completed criminal trial that has found either of them guilty in the 2021 or 2025 matters. Shetty’s public line is that she was a face and a non-executive shareholder, not the person running the books. Kundra’s line is that commercial failure and media trials have been dressed up as crime. Police and the ED say the paper trail still needs answers.
Until those cases close, the couple will remain what they have been for years: a Bollywood marriage that doubles as a running legal story, with every new FIR pulling the old ones back into the same headline.
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