ED raids Noida couple who shot videos for pornography websites

New Delhi The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided the premises of a Noida-based couple who allegedly shot adult videos with models at their residence and supplied those to a Cyprus-based company known for hosting international pornographic sites.

The federal probe agency said in a statement that it seized Rs 8 lakh in cash during the searches undertaken under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in connection with a probe against Subdigi Ventures Private Limited and its promoters.

The company is "controlled" by the couple.

They are alleged to have been running a "sophisticated" adult webcam streaming studio from their residence and these videos were shared with a Cyprus-based company named Technius Limited.

Technius Limited is the "operator" of adult entertainment websites like Xhamster and Stripchat, the ED said.

"Foreign remittances were regularly received by the company (Subdigi) and its directors under the guise of services like advertising, market research and public opinion polling.

"These funds, however, were allegedly proceeds from adult content streamed on XHamster," it said.

This amounted to a violation of the FEMA as the funds were being received as remuneration for adult content service, which is unlawful, ED sources said.

Illegal remittances of Rs 15.66 crore have been identified in the bank accounts of the said company and its directors, apart from an "undisclosed" bank account in the Netherlands where an amount of about Rs 7 crore was transferred by Technius Limited, according to the ED.

The credits in the foreign bank account were found to be withdrawn in cash in India with the use of international debit cards.

The couple "retained" about 75 per cent of the earnings and passed on "only a fraction" to the models, the agency said.

The models were "hired" by the couple through social media platforms, the probe found.

The ED sources told PTI that the officials in the search team have recorded the statement of some models as they were found at the couple's residence during the raids.