MUMBAI: Bollywood actress Poonam Pandey, who has a legal history with arrested businessman Raj Kundra, has claimed that she was threatened to sign a contract with a firm he was associated with, after which her phone number was leaked in retaliation.
Businessman and Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra was arrested in connection with the production and streaming of pornographic content.
Raj Kundra was taken into police custody on Monday night after being booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act. He has been remanded to police custody till July 23.
To a leading daily, Poonam said, “I was threatened and forced to sign a contract which stated — I have to shoot, pose and look a certain way according to their will or else, they’d leak all of my personal stuff.”
She continued, “When I said no to signing the contract, he leaked my phone number with a caption, ‘Call me now. I will strip for you’. He released this message along with my personal number and broadcast it. I still remember that after that my phone rang non-stop. I got calls from the whole world, including threatening messages.”
“I was not home. I was living like a fugitive. I was scared that something would happen to me because of the kind of messages I used to get, such as ‘I know where you are’. It was scary,” Pandey added.
Pandey also urged all women to come out and speak up. “I am giving this statement even after my lawyers said no, because if Raj Kundra can do this to me then what is he doing to others? It is impossible to judge where to put a full stop to this,” she added.
“I would request all the girls to please come out, and if something of this sort has happened to you then raise your voice,” she concluded.
Pandey had earlier filed a case against Kundra and his associates at Armsprime Media, the company that was handling her app. She had complained that they were illegally using her videos even after their contract had ended.
Pandey had also made a statement that following the disagreement, her number and some images were leaked. This resulted in her getting calls that were derogatory in nature.
