Monica: People power

Hyderabad, June 14: Monica Bedi has done what even a thousand brawny men can’t ? stop an express in its tracks. That, too, sitting in jail.

Police yesterday woke up to the one-time Bollywood starlet’s appeal when a man, claiming to be an admirer of the former girlfriend of gangster Abu Salem, called up to say he had hidden a bomb on the Andhra Pradesh Express.

The man, who identified himself as Syed Imran, called up the police control room in the city saying he would blow up the Delhi-bound train unless Monica, arrested on the charge of forging passports, is given bail soon.

The threat, which later turned out to be a hoax, delayed the train for several hours as all the passengers were asked to get off while a bomb disposal squad searched the compartments with sniffer dogs.

The man, who also called up the Secunderabad railway station, said he would blow up the train before it reached Nagpur. It prompted the police to put two bomb disposal squads on the moving train.

The search for the “hidden” explosives continued till the express reached Ballarshah, beyond Nagpur, said a spokesman for South Central Railways.

The train reached Delhi this evening nearly six hours late.

The hoax calls came a day after judge P.V. Satyanarayana, of the designated CBI court, extended Monica’s judicial custody for the 14th time to another 15 days.

The trial in the forgery case is being delayed because of the CBI’s failure to produce Salem in the Hyderabad court.

Monica, charged under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, completed six months in the Chanchalguda jail on Monday. She was in CBI custody for two days following her deportation, along with Bombay bomb blasts accused Salem, from Portugal in November last year.

She later said she had never been married to Salem and even refused legal assistance from the don.

She also refused to meet Salem’s emissaries and threw away gifts ? chocolates, perfumes and expensive clothes ? the don sent her.

The state police and the CBI court judge have taken the hoax calls seriously. Judge Satyanarayana has asked the CBI to produce Salem in the Hyderabad court soon and speed up the trial or else he would have to release Monica from jail.

Andhra home minister K. Jana Reddy today discussed Monica’s trial with judicial and CBI officials.

“Keeping her in jail as an undertrial for over six months will lead to human rights complications,” he told them.