The Surat Police have arrested the driver of actress Shilpa Shetty from Mumbai in the alleged extortion case filed against her parents by a Surat-based businessman, officials said on Friday.

A team led by inspector B V Ramani arrested Dilip Rajaram Palsekar on Thursday night and have brought him to Surat for interrogation.

Palsekar was brought to town this morning and would be produced before court for remand later in the day, Ramani told PTI.

Palsekar is suspected to be one of the middlemen in communicating between the Malaysia-based underworld gangster Fazlu Rehman and the father of the Bollywood actress for extorting money to the tune of Rs 8 million from the owners of Praful Sarees, for which Shilpa had modeled earlier.

Palsekar was also brought to Surat twice earlier for interrogation but this time he was arrested in the case.

The police had earlier arrested Dinesh Shetty, another middleman, from Mumbai in the same connection.

Shilpa's father Surendra Shetty was released on bail last week while hearing for her mother, Sunanda shetty's anticipatory bail will come up on July 17.

The police had also arrested a Chembur-based Hotelier Padmanabhan Kotian in this connection.