Court reserves verdict on Monica Bedi's application

BHOPAL: A court here on Wednesday reserved its verdict on an application by gangster Abu Salem's companion Monica Bedi seeking that her trial in a fake passport case be separated from that of the other accused.
  
Judge D K Dangi reserved his verdict till Thursday, after Monica's counsel contended that the prosecution had produced separate documents and witnesses against the former starlet,
Salem, his wife Sameera Jumani, Mohammed Siraj and Abdu Kabeer alias Baba, accused of procuring passports on the basis of fake documents.

Since charges leveled against her were different from those leveled against the co-accused, her case should be tried separately, her counsel P C Bedi contended.

Passports were procured in the names of Faujia Usmani, Danish Baig and Rubina Baig allegedly for Monica, Salem and Sameera in 2001.

Statements of a witness, Naib Tehsildar Maqsood Ahmed, who had attested ration cards used for procuring the passports, could not be recorded by the court on Wednesday due to the absence of
documents.

Monica, who was produced before the court, has been held in the Central jail after she was brought here last month from a prison in Hyderabad, where she was serving a five-year sentence for another forged passport case.