Supreme Court upholds Monica Bedi's conviction in fake passport case

The Supreme Court today upheld the conviction of actress Monica Bedi, girlfriend of underworld don Abu Salem, in the fake passport case but reduced her sentence to period of jail term she had already undergone.

A bench of Justice B Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar rejected Monica's plea that she could not be convicted in India as it would amount to "double jeopardy" since she had been convicted by the Portugal court for the same offence.

The apex court, however, reduced her sentence to the period of imprisonment she had already undergone (two-and-half years).

The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing Monica's appeal challenging her conviction and five years sentence awarded by a sessions court in Hyderabad and reduced to three years by the Andhra Pradesh high court.

The apex court also upheld the conviction of two other co-accused in the case.

Monica Bedi, 35, was extradited from Portugal alongwith Salem on the basis of an undertaking given by previous NDA government that he would not be awarded death penalty in India. The undertaking was given by then deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and then ,minister of state for external affairs Omar Abdullah.

42-year-old Salem, a key accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case in Mumbai, has been lodged in a Mumbai jail since his extradition from Portugal in 2005. He is facing trial in nine cases, including two for murders.