A SPECIAL judge here reserved till November 6 his verdict on a revision petition challenging charges framed against gangster Abu Salem’s companion Monica Bedi after her counsel today alleged the conditions set by Portuguese courts for her extradition had been violated.
Portuguese courts had not approved her prosecution for impersonation, one of the charges framed against Monica, who is accused of procuring a passport in the name of Fauzia Usmani using fake documents, her counsel P C Bedi argued before special judge Anurag Shrivastava.
Monica was charged with impersonation, fraud and forgery with the intention of cheating and using forged documents and under the provisions of the Indian Passport Act.
“The charge of impersonation, under Section 419 of IPC, can’t be levelled directly, indirectly or impliedly against Monica,” Bedi contested.
The rest of the charges were framed on the basis of her photograph found on documents, none of which carried her signature, Bedi said, adding Bedi’s handwriting was also not examined.
Claiming that the material evidence was deficient to frame charges against Monica, he argued that if she is charged with posing as Fauzia, both would become separate individuals and the prosecution could not give any details of the latter.
{{/usCountry}}Claiming that the material evidence was deficient to frame charges against Monica, he argued that if she is charged with posing as Fauzia, both would become separate individuals and the prosecution could not give any details of the latter.
{{/usCountry}}Monica, Salem, his wife Sameera Jumani, Siraj alias Abdul Jameel and Abdul Kabeer Baba were booked in the fake passport case in 2001. The residential addresses of Siraj and Kabeer were mentioned in the allegedly forged supporting documents presented to procure passports for Monica, Salem and Sameera in the names of Danish Baig, Sameena Baig and Fauzia Usmani respectively.
Monica, who was brought here from a Hyderabad jail on October 13, was extradited last year with Salem, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts from Portugal. She has already been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years in a passport forgery case in Hyderabad.