Shilpa Shetty, family move sessions court against magisterial order

In her plea before the sessions court, the actress claimed that she and her sister were arrayed in the proceedings just because of being actors with the sole objective of hurting their public standing and a use criminal proceedings to extort the amount from them.

Mumbai: Actress Shilpa Shetty, her sister Shamita and their mother Sunanda have moved Dindoshi sessions court, challenging the process issued against them by a metropolitan magistrate court at Andheri following a complaint lodged by an automobile dealer, who claimed the Shetty family had not repaid an amount of ₹21 lakh given to their family firm, run by Shilpa’s father Surendra.

Amra, who owns an automobile agency, had alleged that he had given a loan of ₹21 lakh to Corgifts, a Shetty family firm, but he was not paid the money after the demise of Shilpa’s father, Surendra. (PTI)

Acting on their plea, additional sessions Judge A Z Khan has issued notice to the dealer, Parshad Firoze Amra, and posted the matter for further hearing on March 14.

In her plea before the sessions court, the actress claimed that she and her sister were arrayed in the proceedings just because of being actors with the sole objective of hurting their public standing and a use criminal proceedings to extort the amount from them.

“The present complaint is nothing less than an extortion mechanism adopted by the respondent (Amra) and to dent the image of the applicants and bring them to illegal settlement by threatening their fame and public standing,” said her plea.

“The entire complaint is fiction and not backed by any documentary evidence. A bare perusal of the proceedings shall reveal that the entire dispute is of a civil nature, further fortified by the police report and ought to have dismissed in limine,” said the plea.

“No whisper of an overt or covert act of Shilpa Shetty and Shamita Shetty is mentioned in the entire compliant and hence on this count also the order needs to be recalled,” it added.

Amra, who owns an automobile agency, had alleged that he had given a loan of ₹21 lakh to Corgifts, a Shetty family firm, but he was not paid the money after the demise of Shilpa’s father, Surendra.

Acting on Amra’s complaint of criminal breach of trust, cheating etc., the metropolitan magistrate court has on February 11 issued a process against the sisters and their mother and also summoned them.