Mumbai, May 17: A sessions court here today granted provisional anticipatory bail to Surendra Shetty, father of popular actress Shilpa Shetty, in an extortion case registered against him in Surat. Sessions judge P V Bavkar ordered Surendra Shetty to appear before a Surat sessions court on or before May 28.
The judge ordered that in the event of his arrest, Surendra may be released on bail of Rs 20,000 with one surety or Rs 40,000 cash bail.
Surendra will now have to obtain a regular bail from a competent court in Surat on May 28.
Surendra is facing charges of hiring underworld to recover Rs 80 lakh from Pankaj Agarwal, owner of Surat-based Praful Sarees. This amount was payable to Surendra`s daughter Shilpa Shetty who modelled for an ad film produced by Praful Sarees in 1998.
The contract was for Rs 4 lakh for exhibiting the advertisement for a year. However, a dispute arose between Shilpa and Pankaj as the ad was exhibited till 2002. On a complaint filed by Pankaj, Surat police registered a case against Shilpa`s parents for trying to extort money.
According to the complainant, a gangster threatened him on telephone to give Rs 2 crore for settling the account with Shetty. Bureau Report