The Andhra Pradesh High Court Wednesday directed actor Genelia D'Souza to appear before it personally or through her lawyer in a cheating case related to the purchase of a house from a company for which she was brand ambassador.

The court asked for April 25 appearance to explain why her name should not be included in the first information report (FIR), said Balaji, counsel of the petitioner Chatta Tirupathaiah.

The high court was dealing with a petition Tirupathaiah filed regarding his purchase of a duplex house from real estate company Anjaniputra Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (APiPL).

He alleged that police had not complied with a lower court's order to file a case against Genelia and five directors of the company for defaulting on giving him possession of the duplex house.

Tirupathaiah alleged that the police registered an FIR against directors of the real estate firm but left out Genelia.

The Nampally court, on his petition, last month directed Saifabad police to register a case.

Tirupataiah alleged that Genelia as the brand ambassador lured customers to the company by giving it a clean chit for good management practices and thus had a role in the fraud.

According to him, she had even claimed in the promotion that she was one the directors of the company and bought plots in the venture.

Tirupataiah in 2008 had paid Rs.54 lakh to APiPL for a plot and construction of a duplex house on it at Kalvakolu village in the Maheswaram mandal of Ranga Reddy district. The house has not yet been constructed. He claimed the company, which collected nearly Rs.250 crore from buyers had not even begun the registration process for the venture.