London-born entrepreneur Raj Kundra shot to fame in Britain due to his links with Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in 2007. Shilpa became famous in Britain after winning Celebrity Big Brother, a reality television show, in early 2007.
The three-week TV series in January 2007 had been marred by accusations of racist bullying of the Indian actress by her housemates, especially Jade Goody. British tabloids began hinting at a relationship between Raj Kundra, a father of one daughter, and Shilpa Shetty, but both sides issued vehement denials. To add to the chaos, Kundra’s wife Kavita was quoted in Daily Mail and News of the World as claiming that Shilpa had been instrumental in breaking up of her marriage. The allegations and counter-allegations continued and ended with Mr Kundra issuing a public apology to Shilpa and her family, asserting that he had no association with the Indian actress when he separated and subsequently divorced his wife.
Mr Kundra got married to Shilpa in November 2009 and lived in a seven-bedroom mansion in an exclusive part of Weybridge, Surrey. This house is still their UK base, but the couple has mainly been spending time in India since Shilpa’s pregnancy and birth of their son.
Mr Kundra, whose main business is Dubai-based and trades precious stones and metals, and his wife are close to Indian-origin politician Keith Vaz.
In fact, Mr Kundra along with Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt had campaigned for Mr Vaz in May 2010 during the last general election.
Shilpa was in India at the time for filming a television series and her husband had come in her stead to canvass for votes in Leicester. Mr Vaz had in fact thrown a reception for Shilpa and her husband at one of the committee rooms in the House of Commons in January 2010. In August 2009, Shilpa and Mr Kundra, who were not married at the time, bought a 33 per cent stake in the British restaurant group, V8 Gourmet.