Monica denies being married to Salem

Monica denies being married to Salem - NDTV.com: "Monica Bedi, believed to be Abu Salem's wife, today surprised everyone by stating that she is not married to the underworld don.

The former Bollywood actress made the sensational disclosure that she is single in a Hyderabad court, stunning all those following the Abu Salem-Monica Bedi case.

The judge, CV Subramanyam began by asking Monica her name and then asked her to state her husband's name, to which she replied, "I am single."

The judge was visibly surprised and repeated his question. The answer from Monica was the same again. Monica's statement has raised more questions than answers and even her lawyers seemed surprised at the turn of events.

"In the papers filed by the prosecution, nothing of the sort is revealed. Nothing is mentioned in the contents of the FIR or the chargesheet,'' said Babu Rao, Monica's counsel.

Experts say her marital status would not affect the case against Monica, as it is public knowledge that she and Salem lived together. The CBI has asked for Monica's specimen signature to tally with the forged documents.

"We will send the specimen signature to the Department of Questioned Documents, which will examine it,'' said public prosecutor T V Ramana.

After two days of interrogation by the CBI, Monica was sent back to judicial custody where she will stay till 25 November.

A police team from Bhopal is already in Hyderabad to execute the warrant issued by the city court, which has asked Monica to be present before it on the 26th of this month."