Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on June 18 directed Surendra Shetty, father of actress Shilpa Shetty, facing arrest in an alleged extortion case, to surrender before Surat police on or before June 20.

Shetty, who was denied bail by the High Court on June 17 withdrew his bail application, as the court expressed its mind to reject his plea. The court had asked him to either withdraw his bail petition or else it would pass a reasoned order rejecting the petition.

In a related development, a team of Surat police left for Mumbai to arrest him.

Shetty's counsel S V Raju told the court that his client would prefer surrendering before Umra police, which is investigating the case or the Surat city police commissioner to "avoid media glare".

Umra police in Surat had registered a case against Surendra, his wife Sunanda and a gangster for allegedly extorting money from owner of Praful Sarees Pankaj Agarwal to recover Rs 80 lakhs payable to Shilpa, who had acted in an ad film produced by the company.

Police also claim to possess tape recorded telephonic conversation between Shilpa's parents, Surendra and Sunanda with Agarwal, which indicate that the latter was threatened.

Earlier, a court in Surat had rejected Shetty's bail plea on the grounds that police had prima facie evidence regarding his alleged involvement in the crime.

PTI