Actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra have sent a defamation notice to actor Sherlyn Chopra seeking Rs 50 crore as compensation and an apology within seven days for “lewd” and “below the belt” remarks against the couple on public platforms, Live Law reported.
The defamation notice claims that Chopra’s allegations against the celebrity duo are “concocted, false, frivolous and baseless” and have been made with “an ulterior motive to defame and extort money.” It further states that this is punishable under sections 499, 550, 389 and 195(A) of the Indian Penal Code.
On October 14, Chopra had filed a complaint against Shetty and Kundra alleging that she is a victim of fraud and mental harassment by the couple. On the same day, Chopra called for a press conference during which she stated that Kundra had threatened her on several occasions.
She also took to Twitter to announce that she had filed a complaint against the couple at Juhu police station. In a video shared with the tweet, Chopra said she was not paid on time for the work she did for Kundra. She further said that she was sexually harassed and later threatened against reporting it.
Reacting to Chopra’s complaint and press conference, Shetty and Kundra’s lawyer had said in a statement that her actions could be seen as defamation. “Calling for a press conference to do this reflects a strong intention to commit an offence of defamation. Anything spoken by Miss Chopra in the public domain shall be held against her in the court of law. She shall be liable for civil and criminal proceedings before competent courts,” the statement said.
In July, Kundra was arrested as the “key conspirator” in an ongoing pornography case and accused of making pornographic videos under the pretext of producing short films for OTT platforms and distributing them on various apps. He is currently out on bail.
Chopra’s name has surfaced several times in relation to this case since its investigation began in February.
Soon after Kundra’s arrest, Chopra had said that she was the first person to give a statement to the Maharashtra Cyber Cell against Kundra in the pornography case in March.
In August, she was summoned by the Property Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch for questioning in connection to the case.
Recommended
In the 16-page defamation notice sent by Kundra and Shetty now, the couple claims that Chopra is trying to exempt herself from investigation in the ongoing pornography case with her recent allegations.
The notice also states that a conversation took place between Chopra and Shetty in April, where the latter enquired about the “truth behind the allegations.” To which, Chopra allegedly replied that the “entire complaint is a fake complaint,” and was initiated at her lawyer’s behest.
Regarding one of the apps in question in the pornography case, JL Stream, the notice states that Kundra is the app’s founder while Chopra was one of the influencers. The notice also stresses that Shetty is in no way involved in the management of the app and her name is “unnecessarily being dragged in with the ulterior motive to defame her, gain TRP, attention and to create unwanted controversy.”