Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra gets temporary relief from ED eviction notices

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday disposed of a plea by actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated that its eviction notices would not be acted upon until they file an appeal before the appellate authority.

A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Prithviraj Chavan also stated in its order that the eviction notice shall not be given effect to until the appeal is decided, and for two more weeks if the decision passed is adverse to the petitioners.

The ED had sought possession of Shetty’s Juhu flat and her husband’s Lonavala bungalow through eviction notices sent to them. The couple approached the high court, arguing that they had statutory time to challenge the notice and that it could not be acted upon in such haste or in a “meaningless, reckless, and arbitrary” manner.

The ED is investigating Raj Kundra in a Rs 6,600 crore Bitcoin-Ponzi scam case they had registered against Pune residents Amit Bhardwaj (now deceased), his brother Ajay Bhardwaj, and others. The ED had provisionally attached these properties earlier this year, and last month the adjudication authority had confirmed the attachment. Following this, the ED sent eviction notices to the couple last month.

The couple challenged the notices, stating that after the attachment confirmation order, they had 45 days to challenge it before the Appellate Tribunal, but the ED issued the eviction notice before the expiry of the period.