The news was good for Monica Bedi this week when she learned that the CBI had decided to unfreeze her assets and she now has access again to her seven bank accounts. The money had been frozen since 2002 when the CBI suspected that it had really belonged to gangster Abu Salem. ASP Pramod Manji of the CBI says, “During investigation, the CBI-STF, Mumbai, did not find evidence that the money lying in Bedi’s seven bank accounts belongs to Abu Salem.”
Monica, meanwhile, has returned in spirit to Portugal, the country from which she was extradited with Abu Salem in 2005, after it was agreed that Abu would not receive a death sentence. In the reality show Raaz – Pichhle Janam Ka, to be broadcast on Monday on NDTV Imagine, in which celebrities are hypnotised and taken back to their past lives, Monica appears to become a Portuguese woman with three children. “One of the daughters was named Neema, but I couldn’t clearly understand what the others’ names were,” she explains, “I couldn’t even see who my husband was. Actually, once a person is regressed, he or she can see only flashes of the past, not an entire story.”
No one could deny that Monica’s life so far hasn’t been eventful – born in India, but raised in Norway, attached to a gangster, the flight to Portugal and then the awful prison sentence – so it’s no surprise to learn that a producer has decided to make a movie about her. Her story will feature in an episode of Bollywood & Crime with popular TV actress Jasveer Kaur playing Monica and Kelly Dorji playing Abu Salem. “This story is based on the underworld connection with the film industry,” Jasveer confirms, “I will be essaying the role of Monica Bedi while Kelly will be portrayed as Abu Salem in the series.”
