A special court pronounced Monica Bedi, girlfriend of underworld don Abu Salem, guilty in a fake passport case.
HYDERABAD: Ten months after being extradited from Portugal, Monica Bedi, the girlfriend of underworld don Abu Salem, was on Friday convicted by a special CBI court here in a passport forgery case and sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment.
Three other accused, including a retired Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Abdul Sattar and a Revenue Inspector Mohammad Yunus, were also convicted for their roles in procuring passports for Bedi, Salem and his first wife Sabeena Azmi under fictitious names and addresses.
While Bedi, the former Bollywood starlet, was sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment, Sattar, Yunus and postman Gokari Saheb - were awarded three years' rigorous imprisonment.
The special court acquitted two others - Srinivas, a clerk with Special Branch police and Noor Mohammad, a travel agent, for insufficient evidence.
Bedi was convicted for charges of conspiracy, cheating and impersonation under sections 120 B, 420 and 419 of IPC and also fined Rs 5,000.
Bedi was extradited from Portugal on November 11 last year, along with Abu Salem, and was lodged in the women's prison at Chanchalguda here since then.
The court suspended the sentence awarded to Sattar, Yunus and Gokari Saheb for one month on their bail plea under section 389 of CrPC and were permitted to appeal to High Court.
Monica Bedi, said she is innocent and would appeal against the judgement. "I am innocent and I will appeal against the judgement."
Before she left the court a grim looking Bedi told reporters that "the judgement disappointed me and I am innocent."
To a question, the former Bollywood starlet said she would resume acting if she got an offer after her prison term.
Referring to her imprisonment, Bedi said, "I will kill the time by reading books."
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