Who Is Riya Barde? The Bangladeshi Adult Film Actor Making Headlines

In September 2024, a name that had been quietly circulating in India’s online adult entertainment circles suddenly exploded into mainstream news. Riya Barde — known by several aliases including Arohi Barde and Banna Sheikh — was arrested by Maharashtra Police in Ulhasnagar, a suburb of Mumbai, for illegally residing in India using forged documents. Her arrest peeled back the layers of a remarkably complex story: a young Bangladeshi national who had managed to build a career in India’s adult film industry by constructing an entirely fictitious identity, complete with fake passports, fabricated birth certificates, and an assumed Indian citizenship.

This is the story of Riya Barde — who she is, how she rose to notoriety, and why her arrest sent ripples far beyond the world of adult entertainment.

Early Life and Background

Riya Arvinda Barde was born on May 10, 2002, in Bangladesh. Her real name, as confirmed by Indian authorities following her arrest, is Banna Sheikh. Her family’s story is one of deliberate reinvention. Originally from Bangladesh, her mother — known as Ruby Sheikh or Anjali Barde — entered India and married an Amravati resident named Arvind Barde. This marriage appears to have been strategically arranged to help the family establish legal roots on Indian soil. Ruby Sheikh claimed to be a resident of West Bengal, a detail that allowed the family to blend in along the culturally and linguistically familiar Bengal corridor.

Over time, the family allegedly used this foothold to obtain forged documents, fabricating an entirely Indian identity for themselves. Riya’s siblings — a brother known as Aravinda, alias Riyaz Sheikh, and a sister named Ritu, alias Moni Sheikh — were also reportedly part of the scheme. Her parents, meanwhile, were found to be residing in Qatar at the time of her arrest, adding a distinctly international dimension to what appeared, on the surface, to be a domestic immigration case.

Building a Career in Adult Entertainment

Under her stage names, primarily Arohi Barde, Riya managed to carve out a recognizable presence within India’s online adult entertainment industry. She began her journey as a model before transitioning into adult films, a path that led her to collaborate with some of the more prominent — and controversial — names in the space.

Her filmography includes titles such as Kamini Returns (2020), Wife Swap (2021), Barkha Bhabhi (2022), and Adhuri Suhag Raat. She also appeared in episodes of Charmsukh, a long-running adult series on the Ullu app that has attracted significant viewership in India and the South Asian diaspora. One of her most noted appearances was as “Chutki” in the 2023 Ullu series Aamras, a production that lent her a degree of visibility beyond purely underground adult content platforms.

Perhaps most notably — and most controversially — Riya Barde was reported to have worked on projects associated with Raj Kundra’s production house. Kundra, the businessman and husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, was himself arrested in 2021 in connection with the alleged creation and distribution of pornographic films. Police confirmed the connection between Barde and Kundra’s productions during their investigation, a detail that significantly amplified the public interest in her case. She was also reported to have collaborated with adult film performer Gehana Vasisth, another figure who has faced her own legal complications related to explicit content.

The Investigation and Arrest

The case against Riya Barde did not materialise overnight. According to police accounts, investigators at the Hill Line Police Station in Ulhasnagar had been scrutinising her identity for approximately a year before her arrest. The trigger for the investigation was a tip-off — reportedly from someone who knew Riya personally and had discovered her true Bangladeshi origins.

What investigators uncovered was a meticulously constructed web of deception. Riya’s key documents — her birth certificate, school leaving certificate, and passport — listed three entirely different places of birth. One document pointed to North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, another to Hooghly, and a third to Achalpur in Maharashtra’s Amravati district. The inconsistencies were glaring, and they pointed unmistakably to large-scale document forgery.

On September 26, 2024, Riya Barde was apprehended from Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra’s Thane district. Police registered an FIR against her under Indian Penal Code sections related to cheating, forgery, and common intention, alongside provisions of the Foreigners Act. Authorities confirmed that she had not only fabricated her own documents but had also allegedly helped at least one associate obtain fake educational certificates and a passport.

At the time of her arrest, police were also actively searching for her brother Ravindra (Riyaz Sheikh) and sister Ritu (Moni Sheikh), both believed to be evading authorities, while her parents remained abroad in Qatar.

A Prior Brush with the Law

Riya Barde’s September 2024 arrest was not her first encounter with law enforcement. Prior to the immigration case, she had been arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with charges under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, which governs offences related to prostitution and sex work in India. This earlier arrest had not attracted significant media attention at the time, but in retrospect, it forms part of a broader pattern of legal vulnerability that defined her years in India.

Why the Case Attracted National Attention

On one level, the Riya Barde case is a story about document fraud and illegal immigration — two issues that have drawn increasing public and political focus in India, particularly in the context of undocumented Bangladeshi migrants. Maharashtra authorities had arrested eight other Bangladeshi nationals in the state around the same period, suggesting that Riya’s case was not an isolated incident but part of a broader crackdown.

On another level, however, the case captured the public imagination precisely because of who Riya Barde was. The intersection of adult entertainment, Bollywood-adjacent celebrity (through the Raj Kundra connection), and a transnational identity fraud story proved irresistible to both media outlets and social media audiences. Her videos circulated widely online following the arrest, and her name trended across news platforms throughout late September 2024.

The case also raised uncomfortable questions about systemic vulnerabilities — how an individual could allegedly obtain a genuine Indian passport using fraudulent supporting documents, work openly in an industry with significant online visibility, and avoid detection for years. Commentators and analysts pointed to the arrest as evidence of the need for stronger verification mechanisms in identity and immigration systems.

Broader Implications

The story of Riya Barde sits at the confluence of several significant issues in contemporary India: immigration enforcement, the murky regulatory landscape around adult content platforms, the legal grey areas in which figures like Raj Kundra have operated, and the ease with which forged documents can apparently be used to construct false identities over extended periods.

For the adult entertainment industry specifically, the case served as an uncomfortable spotlight. Platforms and producers operating in legally ambiguous territory found themselves scrutinised not only for the nature of their content but for their failure — or inability — to verify the identities and legal statuses of those they work with.

Where Things Stand

As of the time of reporting, Riya Barde remains entangled in legal proceedings in India. The charges she faces — cheating, forgery, and violations of the Foreigners Act — carry serious penalties, including potential imprisonment. Her family members, including her mother and siblings, were sought by police, with some reportedly still at large. Her parents’ location in Qatar adds a layer of international complexity to what could yet become a more expansive investigation.

What is certain is that the name Riya Barde — whether that was ever truly her name at all — has become permanently associated with one of the more unusual and layered immigration and identity fraud stories to emerge from India in recent years. Her case is a reminder of how thoroughly an identity can be constructed, and how swiftly it can unravel.