MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty's businessman husband Raj Kundra was arrested late at night on Monday on charges related to the production of pornography films and mobile app publishing ring, in which Mumbai police has already arrested nine accused since February this year.

According to Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale, Kundra appears to be the key conspirator in the case and the police has sufficient evidence pointing towards this.

"There was a case registered with Mumbai crime branch in February about the creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps. We've arrested  Raj Kundra, in this case, today as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this and further investigation is in progress," Nagrale said in a statement.

Kundra was summoned for questioning on Monday, during which he was confronted with available evidence after which he was placed under arrest. He had spent the night in the crime branch office and will be produced before the Esplanade Court later in the day today where the police is expected to ask for maximum days of custody for interrogation and further investigation. 

On February 4 the Mumbai police arrested five people for allegedly forcing women into porn movies after the struggling actress complained of being exploited. During the investigation the police found out that aspiring actresses would be lured with the promise of roles in web series and they would be given a script for the same, however during shooting, they would be asked to pose nude or in a compromising position. 

The film would be then edited and uploaded on mobile apps based in the United Kingdom and offered through subscriptions. Police officers involved in the investigation said that they would upload in UK servers to avoid pornography-related laws in India, however, since the films were produced in India and uploaded from here, it was illegal and against law.

According to policemen, they have found that the apps where the films were uploaded were very popular and have a subscriber base of lakhs, thus Kundra and his company have made a lot of money out of this venture. "We have collected strong evidence and will produce it in court," the policeman added.