Surat, July 02: A sessions court today reserved until tomorrow its order on the fresh bail plea of Surendra Shetty, father of actress Shilpa Shetty and an accused in a case of alleged extortion. The order was reserved by sessions judge Kalpana Vin who heard at length arguments advanced by the prosecution and the accused.

Surendra is facing the charge of "hiring" gangsters to recover Rs 80 lakhs from a saree manufacturer for dues payable to his daughter Shilpa for appearing in an ad film.

This is the fourth bail plea of Surendra. Earlier, his bail petitions have been rejected twice by a Surat court and once by Gujarat High Court on the ground that he was prima facie involved in the alleged crime.

Defence lawyer Kalpesh Desai submitted that Dinesh Shetty alias Rai, co-accused and alleged conduit between Surendra and Malaysia-based gangster Fazlu, had already been granted bail.

Moreover, he said, Surendra had cooperated with the investigations. Even before his arrest, he had surrendered his passport and presented himself for probe whenever police summoned him.

Prosecutor Jatin Gandhi opposed Surendra's bail saying he was the mastermind behind conspiracy to extort money from a businessman and setting him free would give a wrong signal in the society, considering the gravity of offence and his alleged links with the underworld.

Police has registered a case against Surendra, his wife Sunanda and two gangsters and charged them with indulging in extortion and participating in a conspiracy to recover money through illegal means.

Bureau Report