Sunanda Shetty granted bail

SURAT: Chief judicial magistrate R P Mehta on Tuesday granted bail to Sunanda Shetty, the mother of film actress Shilpa Shetty, in the Prafful Sarees extortion case.
Sunanda’s counsel Kalpesh Desai said that while passing the bail order, Mehta asked her to furnish a solvent surety bond of Rs 25,000 and a cash surety bond of Rs 50,000. Desai told the court that during the interrogation of Sunanda by police, as per a directive of the district and sessions court, nothing came out against her.
He urged the court that Sunanda be granted bail as a civil dispute over some financial transaction was intentionally converted into a criminal act.
To this, public prosecutor Jatin Gandhi told the court that Sunanda’s bail plea should be rejected as the offence was not only serious in nature but also on the basis of the way the Shettys adopted to extort money from Prafful Sarees owner Pankaj Agarwal by hiring the underworld mafia.
After hearing both the sides, Mehta granted bail to Sunanda on the condition of her furnishing the bonds. Her husband Surendra was granted bail in the same case by the district court here on July 4.