The Hindu : National : Notice to two States on Monica's plea

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 02, 2006

National

National

Notice to two States on Monica's plea

Legal Correspondent

It's double jeopardy, she says; seeks bail

Quash FIR in cheating case I did not apply for passport No incriminating material recovered

Monica Bedi

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh governments on a special leave petition filed by Monica Bedi, an alleged accomplice of extradited gangster Abu Salem, seeking bail in a fake passport case.

A Bench consisting of Justices K.G. Balakrishnan and D.K. Jain issued the notice through the Central Bureau of Investigation. Ms. Bedi challenged the filing of a charge sheet against her in a Bhopal court for cheating and criminal conspiracy.

She said she had already faced trial for this offence and served a three-year jail term in Portugal. It was a case of double jeopardy for the same offence, not permissible under the law. She pleaded that the first information report be quashed and that she be discharged from the case.

The CBI case was that Ms. Bedi was arrested in Portugal for travelling on an Indian passport, issued in Hyderabad, on the basis of forged documents and false information. She came into contact with Abu Salem, who was considered close to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, because she wanted to become a Bollywood star with the support of the gangster, now in a Mumbai jail for his alleged involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.

Ms. Bedi, who is also facing another case of cheating in Hyderabad, was extradited along with Abu Salem last year.

Ms. Bedi said the instant petition raised the fundamental question of criminal law whether it would be lawful or just to try her on an FIR merely on the basis of her seeming to be the beneficiary of the crime, without any direct or circumstantial evidence.

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