Monica case: Govt witnesses fail to appear

Bhopal, Nov 3 (UNI) Absence of government witnesses prevented a local court from recording statements today in a fake passports case wherein underworld don Abu Salem's girlfriend and starlet Monica Bedi is one of the accused.

Shamshad Bi and Javed could not appear before Judicial Magistrate Dinesh Kumar Dangi as summons were not received by them. Six of the case's 32 listed witnesses have deposed thus far.

The bench heard an argument over an application submitted by Defence Counsel P C Bedi who said, ''the papers pertaining to the extradition treaty, under which my client was brought from Portugal, should be presented in court.'' Public Prosecutor Ramesh Motwani responded by saying that documents furnished by the government had already been submitted.

''The responsibility of presenting those documents actually rests with the Defence Counsel,'' he added.

Mr Bedi countered by pleading that another acused Siraj not be converted into a government witness as the documents were not available.

November 6 was fixed as the next date for hearing.

UNI AG-AC 1914