Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra have denied all the allegations made by businessman Deepak Kothari in a fraud case as their lawyers released a statement to clarify. Earlier, Deepak accused Shilpa and Raj of using money given for business expansion for their own personal expenses. A case was filed against the couple by Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
In the statement, their lawyers said, “At the outset, my clients deny all the allegations against my clients which are purely civil in nature and have been adjudicated by the NCLT Mumbai on 04/10/2024. This is an old transaction, wherein the company went in to financial distress and eventually got entangled in a long legal battle at the NCLT.”
The statement read that there is no criminality involved and their auditors have submitted all the necessary documents to the EOW. “The company has already received a liquidation order, which has also been placed before the police department. The concerned Charter accounts have visited the police station for last one year for more than 15 times with all the evidence supporting the claims of my clients. This is nothing but a baseless and malicious case aimed at maligning our clients, and appropriate action is being initiated from our side against the perpetrators,” said the statement.
In the FIR, Deepak alleged that, in 2015, Shilpa and Raj wanted to take a loan from his firm, Lotus Capital Financial Services Limited. A meeting was set up between them where Raj and Shilpa claimed that they were directors of a now-defunct online retail platform, Best Deal TV Pvt Ltd. They sought for a loan of Rs 75 crore at 12% interest which was transferred to Best Deal TV’s bank accounts and the couple had also paid a stamp duty of Rs 3.19 lakh, said Deepak.
Shilpa had given him a personal guarantee to repay the money but the actor resigned as the company’s director in September 2016 by sending Deepak a mail. When he asked for the reasons, she did not give a satisfactory answer. Soon, in 2017 an insolvency case was initiated against Deepak’s company and his requests for getting his money back weren’t responded to.
Deepak registered the complaint at Juhu Police Station, Mumbai for forgery and cheating. The case was handed over to EOW as the amount involved exceeds Rs 10 crore. EOW is currently investigating the case and tracing the money trail.
