Bhopal, November 20, 2005
Vinod Agarwal
NRI Monica Bedi, who was extradited with Abu Salem from
Portugal by CBI on 11 November, was accused of procuring
a forged passport from the state capital in 2001. Underworld
don Abu Salem. was arrested on 18 September, 2002 in Lisbon
for travelling on fake passports to Portugal. Monica Bedi
was charged under provision of the Passport Act 1967, section
417 and 420, both relating to cheating, section 471 for
knowingly using forged documents and section 468 (forgery)
for the purpose of cheating.
Abu Salem, a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim, prime accused
in the Mumbai serial blasts that killed about 270 people
and wounded over 1,000, has been extradited to face charges
in eight cases. Monica Bedi will face charges in two cases
of passport forgery in Hyderabad and Bhopal.
Both are brought to Mumbai in a chartered flight; successful
extradition from Portugal after a three-year legal battle
On Nov. 20, ‘‘CALL me Miss Monica,’’
said Monica Bedi to a startled court in Hyderabad on Saturday,
denying any legal relationship with underworld don Abu Salem.
When CBI Judge C V Subramanyam asked Monica Bedi, who was
produced before the court, her husband’s name she said
‘’I am not married and still single.’’
Salem told his lawyer Ashok Sarogi that he had married
Bedi in 2000 in Los Angeles. The CBI is hoping to understand
Salem’s operations by grilling Bedi, as she was with
him when he was on the run and might have been privy to
information about his transactions.Salem, who had visited
the state capital, had been instrumental in preparing the
forged documents, sources said. Babu Rao, counsel for the
accused said that he had urged the judge to permit him to
speak with his client for five minutes. He said the judge
refused to give permission to meet Ms Monica Bedi due to
security reasons in the court, but directed the superintendent
of jail to permit him to meet his client for five minutes.
The court has ordered that the former Bollywood actress
be produced on 26 November. Monica Bedi was remanded to
judicial custody till November 25 by the special court for
CBI cases. The CBI had filed a memo asking the judge to
permit them to have specimen signature of Ms Monica Bedi
for the purpose of investigation.
