Bollywood Actress Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra have challenged the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) notice to vacate their residence in Juhu area of Mumbai and a farmhouse in Pune in connection with a money laundering case in the Bombay High Court.A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Prithviraj Chauhan heard the petitions on Wednesday. The court issued notice to the ED and fixed Thursday for the next hearing on the matter.

The petitions challenge the ED notice issued to Shetty and Kundra on September 27, directing them to vacate their residential premises here and a farmhouse in Pune within 10 days in connection with the money laundering case related to the alleged 'bitcoin' fraud.

Prashant Patil, the couple's lawyer, said Shetty and Kundra received the notice to vacate the premises only on October 3. He termed the notice as arbitrary and illegal and requested to cancel them. According to the petitions, there is no urgent need for the petitioners to vacate their premises and it is unnecessary to issue such eviction notices.

The petitions said, "The petitioners are requesting relief on humanitarian grounds as the premises mentioned in the notice are their residential premises in which they have been living with six members of their family for about two decades." The petitions also requested the High Court to stay the eviction notice.According to the petitions, the ED had filed a complaint against Amit Bhardwaj and others in 2018 on charges of 'bitcoin' fraud and money laundering. Shetty and her husband have not been named as accused in the case.

It said that the ED called Kundra for questioning several times during the investigation. Kundra appeared before the agency on every summons.

In April 2024, Shetty and Kundra received a notice based on an ED order mentioning provisional attachment of their properties, including their residential complex in Juhu. The Juhu residential complex was purchased by Kundra's father in 2009.

Shilpa and Raj had submitted their replies to the notice.The petitions said that no order/notice of eviction can be issued before conviction.It said that their residential premises have no connection with the proceeds of crime or the crime. The petitions claimed that Kundra has no connection with the alleged fraud.