Court allow Shilpa Shetty, her husband to travel abroad

THANE: The sessions court here has granted permission, on certain conditions, to actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra to travel abroad after they moved an application in the court seeking the nod to relax the conditions of anticipatory bail which was granted in a cheating case.
Aniket Nikam, the counsel for the couple, stated in the plea that they are desirous to travel to London, UK and USA between 12 June to 21 July for business and also mentioned the tentative schedule in the UK and the USA about the meetings.The couple also mentionedtaht they will be attending the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) awards in New York.
They submitted if they are denied the permission to go abroad it can cause ‘grave prejudice to their business'. The plea read that they have been co-operating with the probe and all the necessary travel documents would be submitted to the Kongaon police station where a cheating case is registered against them.
Surprisingly, there was a disparity in the say of the investigation officer to the court who instead of opposing, ‘supported’ them putting in certain condition on the other hand, the assistant public prosecutor Vinit Kulkarni vehemently opposed the application. Kulkarni told the court that the offence is serious in nature. “If the application is allowed there are strong chances of tampering and hampering with the investigation as the accused is influential persons. On the previous occasion, one of the accused has threatened the complainant in the court. Hence, the application deserves to be rejected.”
After hearing both the defence and prosecution, the judge pointed out that the applicants have been granted anticipatory bail on condition not to leave the country. The investigation officer has no objections to grant the permissions on certain conditions but the assistant public prosecutor has strongly objected to the application of going abroad for business purpose.
In the order the court permitted them to travel abroad between the said persons but they are directed to submit their residence address, contact numbers in UK and USA. The court also told them to submit the self-attested copies of visa to the police station and that they will have to give undertaking that they shall not stay in the UK and USA beyond 21 July at police station. After their arrival they should intimate the concern police station and the court.
The court pointed out that these compliance shall be done without fail or their permission will be cancelled.
It was on April 26, 2017, the complainant Ravi Bhalotia, the proprieter of Bhalotia exports had alleged in an FIR before Kongaon police station that he had delivered bedsheets through Best Deal TV (BDTV) but was yet to receive payment and has been duped of Rs 24 lakh.
Subsequently a case was registred against the accused—Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra, Darshit Shah, Vedant Bali and Uday Kothari—who are all former directors of the BDTV company. Later, on May 09,2017, the five-some moved to the Thane sessions court which granted interm relief bail to the actress Shetty, her husband Raj Kundra and three others in the case of alleged cheating and breach of trust filed against them with the Kongaon police of Bhiwandi division.
They were granted pre arrest bail on bonds of Rs. 50,000 each and the hearing in the case was held on May 19.