Bhopal court acquits Monica Bedi in fake passport case

STAR NO MORE: Monica, who acted in a few Hindi and south Indian films, belongs to Chabbewal village in Punjab.

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New Delhi: Former actress and underworld don Abu Salem’s companion Monica Bedi was, on Monday, acquitted in fake passport case in Bhopal.

In November 2001, the city police registered a case at the Koh-i-Fiza police station against Salem, his wife, Samira and Monica for having fake passports made at the Regional Passport Office using fictitious names -Danish Baig, Rubina Baig and Fauzia Osman respectively.

Monica had on July 11 moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the passport forgery case trial pending at Bhopal to either Delhi or Mumbai.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran issued notice to the Madhya Pradesh government seeking its response to her petition accusing the trial court of being prejudiced towards her.

Monica, who has already got bail from the apex court in a similar case at Hyderabad, had alleged that the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Bhopal has framed charges against her without hearing her defence on the issue.

In September last year a Hyderabad court had sentenced Monica, currently lodged in Central Jail in Bhopal, to five years' imprisonment in a case again relating to the fake passports.

The High Court later reduced it to three years and bail was granted. Monica was brought to Bhopal on October 12, 2006 in the wake of a warrant issued on November 17, 2005.

Monica was arrested along with Abu Salem at a Lisbon shopping mall in September 2002 following an Interpol red corner notice issued at the behest of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The two were extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005.