Mumbai: An otherwise glamour quotient has been added in the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) money laundering investigation against the late drug lord Iqbal Mirchi, with the agency now summoning Raj Kundra, husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, to join the probe.
Though top ED officials refused to specify the date of Kundra's summoning, sources said that he has been asked to show up at the agency's Ballard Pier office on Wednesday for questioning.
Sources said that the agency wants to probe Kundra, a British citizen who married Shilpa Shetty in 2009, for his alleged links with the controversial Bandra-based property broker, Ranjit Singh Bindra. Bindra, who had been arrested on October 11 for his role in brokering a deal for three of Mirchi's properties at Worli in 2011, is presently in judicial custody.
Bindra had reportedly served as a director in Bastian Hospitality, a company owned by Kundra. Sources said that Kundra's summoning became necessary to probe his business dealings with Bindra, who is known for his proximity to Mirchi.
Sources claimed that the bone of contention was the investments made and interest free loans issued to Essential Hospitality Ltd by RKW Developer Private Ltd. While Bindra is the director of RKW
Developer, Shilpa Shetty is one of the directors in Essential Hospitality. The purported transactions between the two firms is said to have been unearthed by ED during a scrutiny of documents belonging to RKW Developer, following Bindra's arrest.
In a statement issued last week, Kundra denied having committed anything wrong in his business activities or deals.
Bindra has been accused of earning Rs 30-40 crore as commission for striking a deal for three of Mirchi's properties at Worli, admeasuring 1537 Sq metres, with a reality firm, in 2011. As per the ED, Bindra
and Humayun Merchant, a key aide of the late drug lord, had facilitated meetings between the buyers of the property and Mirchi in the past, the agency claims.
