A court here Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty for not appearing before it in a case filed by a local businessman for dishonoured cheque for Rs.1 million.

Shetty had sought exemption from personal appearance in the case, but the court rejected the plea. The court of Judicial Magistrate (first class) Manisha Jain then issued a non-bailable warrant for Dec 23 appearance by Shetty.

On Shetty's petition earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the trial court proceedings. During the last hearing, however, the high court vacated the stay and asked Shetty to appear before the court Wednesday.

Subash Gulati, owner of Empire Store in sector 17, filed the complaint against Shetty in 2005 alleging that a cheque issued by Shetty's company had bounced.

"A cheque of Rs.1 million issued by the Hyundai India Telecom Limited (HITL), Chennai, to my client Subash Gulati had bounced due to insufficient funds in the bank account of the company.

During the launch of the company in 2004 there were eight directors and Suniel Shetty was one of them. And therefore, he is liable for this fraud, " said Kanwaljit Bawa, counsel of Gulati.