Abu Salem gets 7 year RI in fake passport case

Hyderabad: A special CBI court here on Thursday awarded seven-year rigorous imprisonment to extradited gangster Abu Salem in a fake passport case.
Salem, convicted earlier for criminal conspiracy and cheating under the IPC, was sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined Rs 1,000 for each of the charge.

Salem, also convicted on the charge of forgery for the purpose of cheating, was sentenced to one year RI, and also slapped with Rs 1,000 fine.

He was also sentenced to one-year RI each on the charges of cheating by personation and for using as genuine a forged document of the IPC.

Salem had procured the fake passport under the fictitious identity of Ramil Kamil Malik by submitting forged documents to the Hyderabad Regional Passport Office, in connivance with some government officials and private persons in 2001.

In total, Salem obtained three passports –one for his first wife Sameera Zumani, another for his companion and actor Monica Bedi, apart for himself.

Salem and Bedi were arrested in Portugal and extradited to India in 2005. The fake passport case was transferred to CBI from AP police in October 2002, and a charge sheet was filed in 2004 against 10 accused.

While seven of the total accused faced trial, two had been acquitted. The trial against the gangster began in Hyderabad in 2009. Three accused are still absconding in the case.

Meanwhile, the defence said they will appeal against the order in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.