Bombay high court relief for actor Shilpa Shetty, husband Raj Kundra

The Bombay high court on Monday restrained the police for two weeks from filling a charge sheet against actor Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra in a cheating case.

A bench of justices Ranjit More and Sarang Kotwal was hearing a petition filed by Shetty and her husband seeking the case against them, registered by the Thane police, be quashed.

On April 27 this year, the Bhiwandi police booked the couple for cheating and criminal breach of trust on allegations of duping a textile firm owner of Rs24 lakh.

In May this year, a trial court granted Shetty and her husband anticipatory bail in the case after which they had approached the high court seeking quashing of the case.

On Monday, the HC directed the police to respond to the couple’s plea by next date.

The complaint against the couple had been made by one Ravi Bhalotia. Bhalotia claimed he supplied bedsheets to Best Deal TV (BDTV), a tele-shopping company in which Kundra and Shetty are directors, and the couple failed to pay him rupees 24 lakh, his share in the proceeds from the sale.

The couple’s lawyer, Aniket Nikam, told the court the couple had no intention to cheat and they paid Rs1 crore to the complainant and only Rs24 lakh was due.