Monica Bedi to be out on bail in few days

Hyderabad, July 18: Underworld don Abu Salem's starlet girlfriend Monica Bedi would be released from a city jail in one or two days, according to her counsel. Monica, who was acquitted in the fake passport case in Bhopal on Monday, would reach here this evening after her nine-month stay for trial in the Madhya Pradesh capital.

Earlier, the Supreme Court granted her bail in a forgery case in which the Andhra Pradesh High Court sentenced her to three-year imprisonment.

Monica will have to furnish two sureties of Rs 50,000 each as per the Supreme Court order.

On September 29, 2006, a Special CBI Court in Hyderabad had sentenced Monica to five-year rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 on her.

She had filed an appeal against the CBI court's verdict in the AP High Court. The court reduced the jail term of Monica to three years considering her status and age. It also directed that Monica's detention period of nine months in Portugal should also be taken into account.

Subsequently, on May 17, the Supreme Court granted bail to the former Bollywood startlet.

She was arrested in Portugal along with gangster Abu Salem in August, 2002 for using fake passport and they were extradited to India in November, 2005.

UNI