The Gujarat high court on Wednesday directed Surendra Shetty, father of actress Shilpa Shetty, facing arrest in an alleged extortion case, to surrender before the Surat Police on or before June 20.

Shetty, who was denied bail by the court on Tuesday, withdrew his bail application after the court expressed its mind to reject his plea. The court had asked him to either withdraw his bail petition or face a rejection order.

In a related development, a team of Surat Police left for Mumbai to arrest him.

Shetty's counsel, S V Raju, told the court that his client would prefer surrendering before Umra Police, which is investigating the case or the Surat city police commissioner to 'avoid media glare'.

Umra Police in Surat had registered a case against Surendra, his wife Sunanda, and a gangster for allegedly extorting money from the owner of Praful Sarees, Pankaj Agarwal, to recover Rs 8 million payable to Shilpa, who had acted in an advertisement film produced by the company.

The police also claim to possess recorded telephonic conversation between Shilpa's parents with Agarwal, which indicate that the latter was threatened.

Earlier, a court in Surat had rejected Shetty's bail plea on the grounds that police had prima facie evidence regarding his alleged involvement in the crime.