A Mumbai sessions court, on Monday, stayed the proceedings initiated against actor Shilpa Shetty and her sister Shamita Shetty in connection with the alleged non-repayment of a loan.
The court, however, said the proceedings against their mother, Sunanda Shetty, can continue.
In February, the Andheri magistrate court had issued an order summoning Shetty, her sister, and their mother following a complaint by a businessman alleging that they failed to repay a loan. The complainant, an automobile agency owner, claimed that the trio had cheated him of Rs 21 lakh, which the actor’s father, Surendra Shetty, had borrowed from him in 2015.
He alleged that the loan was given to Corgifts, a Shetty family firm, but he was not repaid the money after the demise of Shetty’s father. He said the loan was borrowed at an annual interest rate of 18% and was due in January 2017. However, Surendra Shetty had died in October 2016, and the sisters and their mother allegedly refused to repay the loan despite having prior knowledge of it.
Shetty and her family had moved the Dindoshi sessions court challenging the proceedings initiated against them by the Andheri court.
In her plea before the sessions court, Shetty said that she and her sister were being involved in the case because they were actors and the objective was to hurt their public standing and use criminal proceedings to extort the amount from them.
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The sessions court noted that the actors’ parents were partners in the firm. However, no document was filed to show that the actors themselves were connected to the firm or had anything to do with the loan.
It thus ruled that “the order passed by the trial court against applicant Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Shamita Shetty whereby the process is issued, is hereby stayed against them,” adding that the magistrate court can proceed against Sunanda.
The sessions court has posted the matter for further hearing on March 25.