Surat, July 29: A local court today rejected Surat police's plea for a day's custodial interrogation of Sunanda Shetty, mother of actress Shilpa Shetty and prime accused in an alleged extortion case, even as it adjourned till tomorrow hearing on her regular bail petition. Pointing out that Sunanda had "cooperated" with the Umara police after she was arrested in Mumbai, Chief Judicial Magistrate R P Mehta rejected prosecutor Jatin Gandhi's plea when the matter came up for hearing. However, on the prosecution plea, Mehta fixed tomorrow as the date for hearing Sunanda's regular bail plea. Sunanda was present during the court proceedings.

The Umra police have registered a case against Sunanda, her husband Surendra and Malaysia-based gangster Fazlu Rehman for allegedly "hiring" gangsters to extort Rs 80 lakh from Pankaj Agarwal, surat-based owner of Prafful Sarees. The amount was payable to Shilpa for an advertising film that she did in 1998 for the company. Surendra was granted bail earlier by the court on certain conditions.
Bureau Report