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Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra have filed a Rs50 crore ($8.9 million) defamation suit against actress Sherlyn Chopra, news agency ANI reported on Tuesday.
The defamation suit comes days after Sherlyn lodged a complaint against Shlipa and Raj on Oct 14 for alleged sexual harassment, cheating and criminal intimidation.
"I have filed a complaint against Raj Kundra for sexual harassment, cheating and criminal intimidation," she said outside Juhu police station in Mumbai.
Sherlyn further claimed that on March 27, 2019, Kundra visited her house and sexually assaulted her, ANI reported.
Shilpa and Raj through their lawyer have also accused Sherlyn of passing "lewd remarks" against them on social media and to the press.
The couple have also asked for a "public apology" from Sherlyn.
Live Law reported that the defamation notice sent to Sherlyn claims that her allegations against Shilpa and her husband are "concocted, false, frivolous and baseless… made with an ulterior motive to defame and extort money".
The couple have accused Sherlyn of demanding Rs48 lakhs ($86,000) with an intention to extort money through her lawyer on Oct 4.
The notice added that Raj is the founder of JL Stream App which is an entertainment app where fans can meet, chat and view exclusive content from their favourite influencers.
Shilpa herself has nothing to do with this App but Sherlyn was one of the 300 artistes associated with JL Stream for a year until July this year.
The notice also claims that these allegations are Sherlyn's attempts to absolve herself from the ongoing investigation against her. It also alleges that Shilpa's name was dragged into the matter to "gain TRP (Television Rating Point) attention" and "create unwanted controversy".
The notice also mentions a phone call between Shilpa and Sherlyn on April 20, when Shilpa enquired about the allegations and Sherlyn said they were baseless and made at the behest of her lawyer, reported Live Law.
Raj and Sherlyn are involved in an investigation for their alleged involvement in streaming pornographic content on an app.
Mumbai Police have accused Raj of being the "main facilitator" in the case and alleged that he, along with the other accused, exploited young women struggling in the movie industry by filming them in obscene ways.
Raj, who is out on bail, has denied these charges.
Shilpa, while reaffirming her trust in the police and the judiciary, has claimed that she was not aware of what her husband did for work since she was too busy with her own.
Sherlyn, whose statement has been recorded by the police in the case, said that Raj and his firm's creative director repeatedly forced her to work for the mobile application named HotShots.
Her detailed statement is part of the chargesheet filed by Mumbai Crime Branch officials in the porn case.
Shilpa, meanwhile, has won Instagram fans over with her bold new hairstyle as well as a demanding workout routine.
Sharing a video in which she shows off her new look and her aerobic workout on Monday, the actress wrote: "You can't live each day without taking risks and without getting out of your comfort zone: be it going for an undercut buzz cut (which took a lot of gumption, won't lie) or performing my new aerobic workout: the Tribal Squats."
Indo-Asian News Service
"(Sherlyn's allegations against us are ) concocted, false, frivolous and baseless… made with an ulterior motive to defame and extort money".
- Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra in a defamation suit filed against actress Sherlyn Chopra (right)
