The Masjid Welfare Committee filed a police complaint on Tuesday seeking action against the agency and Ms. Mirza for shooting on the masjid premises without permission. Initially, the police maintained that the masjid, being a historical monument, people went inside and took pictures. However, on Thursday the police registered a case under Section 448 of the IPC.

Sania’s public apology came barely hours after a case had been registered against the tennis star and the advertising agency, charging them with trespassing on the Mecca Masjid.

The tennis star later sent an e-mail to Hyderabad’s Police Commissioner, apologising for the ad shoot “with a deep sense of remorse”.

Sania also sent a letter to the Imam of the Masjid, saying: “I would like to apologise to all my brothers and sisters and respected elders who are anguished by my unwittingly entering a portion of the land belonging to Mecca Masjid.”

“While I am fully aware that a woman must not enter the sanctity of the mosque, I was unaware that even entering the outside gates of a mosque was seriously objectionable, specially without permission, which I was assured by the agency they possessed.”

“However, I would like to unequivocally tender my apology to all my brothers and sisters for hurting their sentiments,” she said.

Ms. Mirza, now in Bangalore, tendered an apology to the Imam on Thursday.

Sania Mirza has apologized for hurting ”religious sentiments” in an attempt to defuse the row over the shooting of a commercial featuring the tennis star at the historic Mecca Masjid for which she faced a trespass case.