The Mumbai police have issued a Lookout Circular against Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra in connection with a Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) cheating case, officials said on Friday.
IMAGE: Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra. Photograph: @TheShilpaShetty/X
The Lookout Circular was issued by the city police’s economic offences wing as the couple makes frequent international trips, an official said.
A case was registered against Shilpa and Kundra at the Juhu police station in north west Mumbai on August 14 for allegedly duping a businessman of nearly Rs 60 crore in a loan-cum-investment deal, he said.
A Lookout Circular is a mechanism used to prevent a person from leaving the country or to track their movements, typically by issuing an alert to immigration and border control points.
The Mumbai police registered a case against Shilpa and Kundra for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 60.4 crore (Rs 604 million) in a loan-cum-investment deal in their now defunct company Best Deal TV Private Limited, officials had said on Thursday.
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.
Businessman Deepak Kothari, director of the Lotus Capital Finance Services (non-banking financial company) in his police complaint mentioned he had came into contact with Kundra and Shetty through a man named 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 (Rs 750 million), 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, Kothari claimed he transferred Rs 31.9 crore (Rs 319 million) in April 2015 under a share subscription agreement, followed by another Rs 28.53 crore (Rs 285.3 million) 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, 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, September 3, 2025, at the Juhu police station and was transferred to the Mumbai police’s economic offences wing 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.
