Surat, June 27: A day after his bail petition was turned down, Surendra Shetty, father of actress Shilpa Shetty and accused in a case of alleged extortion, today filed a fresh bail plea in a sessions court. District and sessions court judge K M Vin has posted the hearing for July 1, Surendra's advocate Kalpesh Desai told a news agency. This is Surendra's fourth bail application after earlier three pleas were rejected - two in Surat court and one in the Gujarat High Court, on the ground of "prima facie evidence" of his alleged involvement in the crime. Surendra and his wife Sunanda are facing the charge of "hiring" a gangster to extort from a Surat-based businessman Pankaj Agrawal Rs 80 lakhs payable to Shilpa for an adfilm that she did in 1998.

Surendra was remanded to judicial custody till July 5 after his bail plea was rejected yesterday by Chief Judicial Magistrate R P Mehta. Moving a fresh bail petition, Desai contented that his 52-year old client was "wholeheartedly cooperating" with the investigation and charges filed against him under Section 386 IPC (extortion) were "baseless".

Bureau Report