Cops Book Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra in Rs 60 Crore Cheating Allegation

According to officials, the complaint was initially lodged at Juhu police station under IPC provisions related to cheating and forgery. Given that the alleged fraud amount exceeded Rs 10 crore, the matter was transferred to the EOW. The case stems from a complaint filed by 60-year-old Deepak Kothari, a Juhu resident and director of Lotus Capital Financial Services, which is a non-banking financial company.

Kothari has alleged that Rajesh Arya introduced him to Shetty and Kundra, who were then serving as directors of Best Deal TV, an e-commerce and home-shopping platform. At the time, the couple reportedly controlled over 87 percent of the company’s shares.

Kothari claims the accused initially sought a Rs 75 crore loan at a 12 percent annual interest rate. However, they later suggested that the funds be channelled as an “investment” instead of a loan, citing tax advantages. They allegedly assured him of proper monthly returns along with repayment of the principal. Acting on this assurance, Kothari says he invested Rs 31.9 crore in April 2015 under a share subscription agreement, followed by an additional Rs 28.53 crore in September 2015 through a supplementary agreement.

Despite giving a personal guarantee in April 2016, Shilpa Shetty allegedly resigned as a director later that year. In 2017, Kothari says he learned that insolvency proceedings had been initiated against the company over defaults on another agreement.

The EOW has launched a detailed probe into the allegations.

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