Actor Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra have approached the Bombay High Court, challenging eviction notices issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) asking them to vacate their house in Mumbai’s Juhu and a farmhouse in Pune. The eviction orders are in connection with an ongoing money-laundering investigation related to an alleged Bitcoin fraud case.
The matter was brought before a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday. The court has issued a notice to the ED and scheduled a hearing for Thursday.
The couple is contesting the ED's notices dated September 27, 2024, which direct them to vacate their residential premises and the farmhouse within ten days. The notices are linked to a 2018 money-laundering case involving Amit Bhardwaj and others. However, Shetty and Kundra are not named as accused in the case.
Their lawyer, Prashant Patil, termed the eviction orders arbitrary and illegal, arguing that Shetty and Kundra only received the notices on October 3, 2024, and that there was no urgency requiring them to vacate the premises. The petitions highlighted that the Juhu residence has been their family home for nearly two decades and sought relief on humanitarian grounds.
The couple also requested the court to stay the effect of the eviction notices, arguing that their property has no connection to the alleged offence or any proceeds of crime. The pleas noted that the house in Juhu was purchased by Kundra’s father in 2009 and that Kundra had no involvement in the Bitcoin fraud case.
The ED had provisionally attached their assets in April 2024 as part of its investigation. Shetty and Kundra had responded to the notice, but on September 18, 2024, the adjudicating authority confirmed the attachment until the conclusion of the trial. Despite this, the couple was served eviction notices, which they argue are legally unsound as no conviction has occurred.