Order on Shilpa Shetty anticipatory bail reserved

Mumbai: A sessions court in Thane district on Friday reserved order on the anticipatory bail application filed by actor Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra till Saturday. The celebrity couple faces arrest in a case where a businessman has filed a FIR against them, alleging they cheated him of Rs 24 lakh. The court has already granted them interim relief from arrest.

During hearing, Kundra told the complainant to keep Rs 100 crore ready to pay him as the couple had filed a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against the complainant. Following this, the court directed Kundra to give an undertaking that he would not threaten the complainant.   

Advocate Aniket Nikam along with Hiren Kamod, on behalf of the couple, argued that they had complied with the directions of the court by appearing before it and cooperating with the investigating agency. Advocate Nikam further argued that this was a matter of pure civil transaction and there was no element of any criminal offence and hence, his clients should be granted relief from arrest. He said that his client’s firm, Best Deal TV Pvt. Ltd., was in a business partnership for over a year with the complainant and had made a payment of over Rs 1 crore to the complainant and hence, it could not be said that the accused had any intention of cheating the complainant.