Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty's lawyer has clarified that she did not take Rs 15 crore from her husband, businessman-turned-actor Raj Kundra, 10 years back. For those unversed, the transaction is now being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police after they intensified their probe into an alleged Rs 60 crore fraud case involving him.
It was earlier reported that funds were directly transferred into the accounts of four actresses, including Shilpa, Bipasha Basu, and Neha Dhupia. In addition, transactions were traced to Balaji Entertainment. The EOW had tracked nearly Rs 25 crore in direct transfers.
On Friday (September 26), Shilpa's lawyer stated, "There are reports circulating in the print and electronic media that my client Mrs Shilpa shetty Kundra had allegedly received an amount of Rs 15 crore from her husband Raj Kundra almost 10 years ago for a transaction which is allegedly investigated by Economic Offence Wing (Mumbai). At the outset, we would like to state that this piece of information is totally fake and mischievous intentionally planted in the public domain to defame my client."
The lawyer's official statement further read, "We shall go to the root of mischief and adopt the due process of law to file criminal proceedings and civil damages against all the news articles circulated mischievously to defame my client. No such amount was ever received by my client and at this stage, we cannot reveal anything further as the matter is sub judice. My clients are, however, compelled to initiate criminal and civil cases against all the fake media articles who have circulated the news without verifying the truth."
The lawyer also said that they will move the Bombay High Court for "seeking relief against the defamatory campaign adopted by certain media outlets against Shilpa."
"We have always cooperated with the investigation agencies and shall always cooperate with the best of our ability. However, defamatory articles and news shall be dealt with strongly by adopting the procedure established by law as it infringes the fundamental rights of my client," the statement further read.
Earlier this month, Raj was questioned for five hours in connection with the fraud case.
The case, which dates back to demonetisation, involves allegations of suspicious fund movements carried out under the guise of production and promotional expenses. Investigators have already secured evidence of such transfers, and Raj was asked to resubmit video content created for a venture called Best Deal for further verification.
Raj had reportedly claimed that all videos were already seized by the Mumbai Crime Branch in a previous case.
