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A Mumbai businessman has accused actress Shilpa Shetty and her husband, businessman Raj Kundra of cheating Rs 60 crore. The case is related to their now closed Best Deal TV Private Limited Company.
Businessman Deepak Kothari, who complained, says that between 2015 and 2023, he gave a total of Rs 60.48 crore to the couple to increase business, but this amount was invested in private expenses.
Shilpa was the company’s 87% stake
According to Kothari, he met Shilpa and Kundra in 2015 through agent Rajesh Arya. At that time both were the directors of the best deal TV and Shilpa had more than 87% shares of the company.
In a meeting, it was decided that Shilpa and Raj will give a lamp to Kundra’s company. A loan of Rs 75 crore was sought for the company, on which 12% annual interest was fixed.
Deepak Kothari alleges that Shilpa and Kundra later told them that the loan may face tax problems, so show it as investment and will give returns every month.
The first 31.95 crore payment was made in April 2015
In April 2015, Kothari made the first payment of around Rs 31.95 crore. There was a second deal in September due to the continuation of tax problems and between July 2015 and March 2016, he transferred more than Rs 28.54 crore.
Overall, he gave Rs 60.48 crore, along with Rs 3.19 lakh as stamp duty. Kothari claims that Shilpa also gave him a personal guarantee in April 2016, but in September the same year she resigned as the director of the company.
After this, a case of not paying a loan of Rs 1.28 crore on Shilpa’s company came to light. Kothari had no idea about this. He asked for his money back several times, but did not get any reply and money.
The first case was registered at Juhu police station under fraud and forgery. Since the amount was more than 10 crores, the investigation has been handed over to the Economic Offenses Branch (EOW). Eow is investigating this case.
In a conversation with Dainik Bhaskar, Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty’s lawyer Advocate Prashant Patil said,
My clients have received information through some electronic and print media that a case has been registered against them in Mumbai’s Economic Offenses Branch (EOW). First, my clients reject all the allegations. This is a completely civil matter, which was settled by NCLT Mumbai on 4 October 2024.
Prashant Patil said,
This is an old transaction in which the company was in economic crisis and later it got entangled in a long legal process. There is no crime in this. Our auditors have provided all the necessary documents, such as cash flow statement, from time to time.
Prashant Patil also said that the investment agreement that is being talked about was completely in the form of equity investment. The company has already received the order of liquidation, which has also been given to the police department. In the last one year, our chartered accountants have gone to the police station more than 15 times and have presented all the evidence. This case is completely baseless and malicious, which aims to tarnish the image of our clients. We are taking appropriate legal action against the culprits in this case. ”