Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra are facing heat from the Mumbai Police as a lookout notice has been issued against the couple in a Rs 60 crore loan-cum-investment cheating case linked to their company Best Deal TV Pvt. Ltd which is now not in operation.
The lookout notice has been issued by the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) due to their frequent international travel so that the couple don't leave the nation when the case is ongoing.
The news comes two days after the actor announced that her restaurant Bastian Bandra in the city will be shutting down. While the actor didn't cite any reasons for its closure, it has been linked to the fraud case filed by Mumbai businessman Deepak Kothari. While Shilpa Shetty deleted her Instagram story on the closure of the restaurant, she later clarified that it will be shifted to Bastian Beach Club in Juhu.
The case, filed by Deepak, claims that the couple defrauded him of more than Rs 60 crore in a loan and investment scheme between 2015 and 2023. Further, a police source mentioned that Deepak, director of Lotus Capital Financial Services, alleged that the money he gave for business growth was misappropriated and used for personal expenses.
An FIR filed in Juhu on August 13 alleges that Kothari was introduced to Raj Kundra through a mutual contact and informed that Kundra and his wife Shilpa Shetty collectively owned nearly 88% of Best Deal TV. According to the complaint, Kundra initially sought a Rs 75 crore loan at an annual interest rate of 12 per cent. However, Kothari claims he was later urged to treat the amount as an investment instead, with the promise of tax benefits and higher returns.
Based on these assurances, Kothari alleges he transferred Rs 31.95 crore in April 2015 under a share subscription agreement, followed by another Rs 28.53 crore in September 2015 through a supplementary agreement. Both transactions were reportedly credited to the company’s HDFC Bank accounts.
The complaint further notes that Shilpa Shetty, who had given him a personal guarantee to repay the money, stepped down as director in September 2016, and by the following year, insolvency proceedings had begun against Best Deal TV due to a separate financial default. Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, Kundra delayed repayment to Kothari which pushed him to raise a complaint with the police.
Following an inquiry, it had been confirmed that his funds were misused and cases under IPC sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 34 (common intention) were filed on August 13. Reacting to the case during the time, Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra denied all the allegations and stated that it was a baseless and malicious case aimed at maligning them.
The auditor has been summoned to check the firm's books before liquidation proceedings were filed before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
This is not the first time the couple is facing legal scrutiny. Earlier this year, the MD of Riddhi Siddhi Bullions Prithviraj Kothari accused them of cheating an investor in connection to a gold scheme. Raj Kundra was previously arrested by the Mumbai Police in 2021 on charges of producing pornographic content and was granted bail later that year. In 2024, the Enforcement Directorate attached his properties worth 97 crores in Bitcoin investment fraud case which was alleged to be a ponzi scheme.
