The Economic Offences Wing of the Bombay police have invoked the more serious charge of cheating under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code in an FIR registered against actress Shilpa Shetty and her businessman-husband, Raj Kundra. The new charge follows fresh material gathered during the investigation.
The EOW in August booked the couple under IPC sections 403 and 406 for dishonest misappropriation of property and criminal breach of trust. They allegedly cheated Bombay-based businessman Deepak Kothari of Rs. 60.48 crore in connection with a loan-cum-investment deal involving their now-defunct company, Best Deal TV Pvt. Ltd.
Shetty and Kundra challenged the FIR in the Bombay high court, calling it baseless and malicious. They claimed that it was a civil case based on a failed business venture, not a crime, and moved to quash the case, which the EOW is investigating. The high court directed them to deposit Rs. 60 crore and furnish a bank guarantee from a nationalised bank if they wished the Lookout Circular in their name to be cancelled.