New Delhi, July 18: A Portuguese court has turned down India`s request to extradite underworld don Abu Salem`s girlfriend Monica Bedi, CBI sources said here today. India had sought her extradition for forging documents to procure a passport.
She was arrested in Lisbon in September last year along with Salem, main accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.
India has also sought extradition of Salem, who has submitted before the court in Portugal that he would be harassed if he was sent back. India has already sent its reply to the court disputing his submission. The court in Lisbon, where the extradition trial of Bedi was going on, said the crime committed by her in India was similar to the crime committed by her in Portugal and that she could face the court of law there.
India, meanwhile, has approached the prosecutor general of Portugal for filing an appeal in a higher court challenging the trial court`s order and clarifying that Monica had forged documents in this country which led to her arrest in Lisbon.
Earlier, Bedi had raised three queries, including whether she would face harrassment as she was a Muslim; what was the guarantee that the President would not turn down her appeal against a death penalty or a life sentence exceeding 45 years and why her case would be tried in a special court and not in a normal court. In its reply, the CBI had termed her plea of being muslim as totally baseless and said that india was a democratic country where there was no discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, creed or sex. Bureau Report