Mumbai police have arrested businessman Raj Kundra, the husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, in a case related to alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps, a senior official said. 45-year-old Kundra appears to be the "key conspirator" of the case, a police official said on Monday. The businessman was taken into custody by the Crime Branch on Monday after being booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act, the official said.

"There was a case registered with the Crime Branch Mumbai in February 2021 about creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some Apps. We've arrested Mr Raj Kundra in this case on 19/7/21 as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this," Mumbai police commissioner said in a statement. The case was registered on February 4 at the Malwani police station in suburban Mumbai.

An FIR was registered against Kundra after a woman approached the police and made certain allegations in her complaint, another official said. "On that basis, the FIR was registered and the case transferred to the Crime Branch. Earlier also, we had registered cases related to pornography in which an actress and some other persons were made accused," he said.

"We will conduct a probe into the case against Raj Kundra and find out if there is any link between this and pornography cases which we had registered earlier," the official said.

Kundra was booked under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 34 (common intention), 292 and 293 (related to obscene and indecent advertisements and displays), and relevant sections of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, he said. Further investigation was underway, the official added.

Raj Kundra is a British-Indian businessman with interests including cricket, hospitality, mining and entertainment.