Mumbai Police have registered a case against actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 60.4 crore in a loan-cum-investment deal in their now defunct company Best Deal TV Private Limited, officials said on Thursday.
However, a lawyer representing Shetty and businessman Kundra denied the allegations, saying this was a "baseless and malicious case" aimed at maligning his clients, and appropriate action was being initiated against the perpetrators.
Juhu-based businessman Deepak Kothari (60), director of Lotus Capital Finance Services (non-banking financial company) in his police complaint mentioned he had came into contact with Raj Kundra and his actor wife Shilpa Shetty through one Rajesh Arya, an official said.
Kundra and Shetty were then directors of Best Deal TV Private Limited, a home shopping and online retail platform. Through Arya, they had sought a loan of Rs 75 crore, but to avoid higher taxation they allegedly showed it as an investment, as per the complaint.
They also promised monthly return (of the loan) and repayment of the principal, the official said.
According to the FIR, the complainant claimed he transferred Rs 31.9 crore in April 2015 under a share subscription agreement, followed by another Rs 28.53 crore under a supplementary agreement in September 2015.
As per the complainant, he had given the loan of Rs 60.4 crore for business expansion during the period from 2015 to 2023.
After providing a guarantee in April 2016, Shetty resigned as director of the company in September 2016, the businessman said in his complaint.
Kothari later found that insolvency proceedings were on against the company in 2017 for defaulting on another agreement, the official said.
In his complaint, Kothari alleged he had provided the loan for business, but the money was diverted for personal use by the accused persons, the police said.
Accordingly, Kothari approached the Mumbai Police with a complaint against the actor, her husband and other unidentified persons.
A case was registered against them on Wednesday at Juhu Police Station here and was transferred to the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for an investigation, the official said.
A statement issued by Shetty and Kundra's lawyer on Thursday said his clients deny all the allegations which are purely civil in nature and have been adjudicated by the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) Mumbai on October 4, 2024.
"This is an old transaction, wherein the company went into financial distress and eventually got entangled in a long legal battle at the NCLT," the statement said.
"There is no criminality involved and our auditors have submitted all the necessary supporting documents from time to time, as requested by the EOW, including detailed cash flow statements," it said.
The investment agreement in question is purely in the nature of an equity investment, the statement said.
The company has already received a liquidation order, which has also been placed before the police department, it said.
"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," the statement said.