Actors Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband, Raj Kundra have filed a plea in the Bombay High Court against the notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for eviction of their residence in Mumbai’s Juhu area and a farmhouse in Pune. The notice was regarding a money-laundering case.
The bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan heard their pleas on Wednesday. It issued a notice to the ED and put the matter for Thursday.
The couple’s lawyer, Prashant Patil, pointed out that Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra received the eviction notices only on October 3, while they had actually been issued on September 27. Notices “arbitrary and illegal,” said Patil, and he asked for quashing.
The pleas point out that there is no emergent requirement to evict the couple, who have lived on these premises for nearly two decades with their family of six members. The pleas seek relief on humanitarian grounds and pray for an order staying the eviction notices.
The ED had in 2018 filed a complaint against Amit Bhardwaj and others for a Bitcoin fraud, besides money laundering charges. While Shetty and Kundra are not accused in the case, the ED has summoned Raj Kundra for questioning multiple times, who has attended every time.
In April 2024, the couple was served with a notice related to the provisional attachment of the assets, including their Juhu residence, which was purchased in 2009 by Kundra’s father. The response was submitted on that notice, but later on September 18, 2024, the adjudicating authority of the ED confirmed the provisional attachment, saying that it would stay till the conclusion of the trial.
October 3 is the date the couple received eviction notices requiring them to leave their properties within ten days. Their petitions argue no eviction order can be issued prior to a conviction and that residence has no nexus with the crime committed.