Punjab government yet to receive SC orders on Monica Bedi

Hoshiarpur, July 24 (UNI) The Punjab Government is yet to receive the Supreme Court's orders directing, a close associate of underworld don Abu Salem, to stay confined to her ancestrol village, Chabbewal in this district after her release on bail from Hyderabad jail.

The apex court had yesterday ordered the release of the Bollywood starlit from jail. She is serving a three-year sentence in a Hyderabad jail for travelling on a forged passport.

SSP Anita Punj when contacted today said that she had not received any order from Chandigarh on Monica Bedi. "However when we receive the orders we will make the necessary security and other arrangements in Chabbewal", she said.

Monica Bedi's parents and her brother have been settled in Norway for the last ten to twelve years. They occassional come to India and stay in the village.

The residents of Chabbewal are no longer averse to welcoming Monica Bedi back to the village. At the time of her arrest alongwith Abu Salem, the villagers had been very critical of her and had gone to the extent of saying that she had brought a bad name to the village and would never be welcome here.

Monica was acquitted in the forged passport case by a Bhopal court while she has been granted bail in the Hyderabad case by the apex court. She was sentenced to five-year imprisonment by a Hyderabad court which was commuted to three years by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on appeal.

UNI