Bail for Shilpa Shetty's mom

The Surat court granted bail to actress Shilpa Shetty's mother Sunanda, one of the accused in the Praful Sarees extortion case.

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Granting the bail, Chief Judicial Magistrate R P Mehta asked Sunanda, who was present in court, to furnish a surety bond of Rs 25,000 and a cash surety of Rs 50,000.

Her husband Surendra, 62, had been granted interim bail earlier.

Sunanda and Surendra have been charged with 'hiring' underworld gangsters to 'extort' Rs 80 lakh (approximately US$170,000) from Pankaj Agrawal, owner of Praful Sarees.

The amount was reportedly payable to the actress for an advertising film that she did for the company in 1998. The police claim to have recorded telephone conversations in which the accused threatened Pankaj Agarwal to recover the amount.