In a recent turn of events linked to an alleged extortion case involving Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, the Surat District Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court has levied a Rs 25,000 fine on a lawyer.
According to reports, Minesh Jhaveri, the advocate representing Shilpa’s mother Sunanda Shetty, failed to appear for a scheduled hearing. Instead, a junior lawyer appeared in court as a proxy. However, the court objected to this move, citing the absence of a signed authorization permitting the junior lawyer’s representation, and subsequently imposed the penalty.
Shilpa Shetty's parents, Surendra and Sunanda Shetty, her former personal secretary, Dilip Palsekar, and a man named Rehman and two of his associates are all involved in the police case. Each of them has been charged under a different Indian Penal Code section.
The case started back in 1998, when Shilpa Shetty signed a one-year contract to appear in a television advertisement for Surat-based Prafful Sarees. But according to reports, the commercial ran for a number of years after the contract period ended.
Perceiving this as a breach of contract, the actress sent Pankaj Agrawal, the owner of the company, a legal notice accusing him of using her image without permission and demanding Rs 80 lakh for the extra broadcast time over four years.
In response, Agrawal filed a complaint at the Umra police station in Surat in 2003, claiming that he received a threatening phone call from underworld figure Fazl-ur-Rehman. According to Agrawal, the caller demanded Rs 2 crore, allegedly on behalf of Shilpa Shetty.
At about the same time, Sunanda and Surendra Shetty, Shilpa Shetty's parents, were arrested but later released on bail, along with a few other defendants. Authorities gathered several witness statements and audio recordings purportedly recording conversations between complainant Pankaj Agrawal and Shilpa Shetty's parents, but the investigation was still ongoing.
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After Rehman and Sunanda Shetty did not appear in court, the Surat district court issued a non-bailable warrant against them earlier this year in February. The next hearing was then set for April 11 by the court. At this recent hearing, Agrawal submitted a piece of evidence linked to a purported conversation between him and an individual named Ashraf, who is believed to be a close associate of Rehman.
The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for April 30.
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