Monica Bedi

Birthday: January 18th, 1975 Place of Birth: Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India

Monica is a Capricornian, born on January 18th 1975 in the Village of

Chabbewal in the district of Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India. Her dad's name

is Prem Kumar Bedi, her mom's name is Shakuntala (nee Chawla), she has a

brother, Bobby, who was married in 1998 to a girl from Tanda near

Hoshiarpur. Her dad was a registered medical practitioner. In 1976 the

Bedi family immigrated to Norway to start their own garment business. At

that time Monica was 10 months old.

In 1992 Monica traveled to

study English Literature in England's Oxford University. It is here that

she met with Bollywood film actor-producer, Manoj Kumar.

Shortly

thereafter she traveled to Bombay and met with another film producer,

Mukesh Duggal, and was reported to have suffered considerable abuse at

his hands. Mukesh Duggal was subsequently killed.

It was through Abu Salem's contacts that Monica was able to get some acting roles, beginning with a movie in Telugu.

She

did return to her hometown in 1995 and it was during this time that

bandits attacked and killed her grandparents, severely injuring her mom.

Shakuntala decided to live with her brother, Krishan Chawla in Delhi,

and refused to re-locate to Norway. Her husband, her son and his family,

as well as nephews, nieces, and sister-in-law, Kanta, re-located to

Norway, leaving Kanta's husband, Purshotam, behind to take care of the

property in Chabbewal.

Monica married Abu, changed her religion

to Islam, her name to Fauzia, acquired two sets of passports from Bhopal

and Hyderbad, and both re-located to Lisbon, Portugal in 2001 from

their present location in Dubai, UAE.

Monica challenges had only begun for a year later both were arrested by the Portuguese Police, and in November, 2003, she was sentenced to 2 years in prison for possessing forged travel documents.

After

her sentence was over, she and Abu were extradited to India to face

more criminal charges. In desperation Monica wrote letters to the Indian

President and Prime Minister - in vain.

In September 2006 Monica was found guilty by the Special Court of CBI which convicted her and awarded 5-years rigorous imprisonment on the charges of cheating, criminal planning and for using fake passport.

Monica is currently facing charges of Forgery in the fake passport case from Bhopal.

Ironically none of her family in India were aware of her plight until she was arrested in Lisbon.

Although

no longer a star, Monica Bedi continues to attract media attention all

over India. A lot her fans and well-wishers hope that this young and

attractive young woman will overcome her challenges and return to the

silver screen.