| Monica Bedi freed on bail |
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 Former actress Monica Bedi was released from prison on bail on Wednesday while she appeals against a conviction for passport forgery in a high-profile case involving Mumbai's underworld.She emerged smiling, dressed in pink and already talking of returning to films, having been in prison since being extradited from Portugal along with Mumbai underworld figure Abu Salem in November 2005. "I've missed being on screen and I'm very excited that I'm being welcomed back," she told a scrum of reporters after being released. Monica claimed she was getting offers from Hindi and Telugu film industries and said she planned to settle down in Hyderabad to act in Telugu films." "Earlier I was a person who used to trust everyone, I thought everybody is nice in the world, but I have learnt that, no -- I have to be careful in life. Ups and downs are common in life. There is always a morning after the night. It was a challenge. I learnt lessons from jail life and emerged more stronger and confident," she told newsmen. Abu Salem, who was extradited from Portugal on similar charges along with Bedi, is accused of being involved in the Mumbai bomb blasts in 1993 in which 257 people were killed. He is facing trial over the attacks. Police said the pair fled the country soon after the blasts. Bedi, 32, had to answer charges in separate courts of getting passports in fake names. In Hyderabad, she was convicted for forgery and sentenced to five years in jail in 2006, but was later granted bail by the Supreme Court while she appeals, But she remained jailed while waiting for a judgement in a similar case at a court in the central Indian city of Bhopal. That court acquitted her on forgery charges earlier this month due to lack of witnesses. She is flying back to Delhi with her father on Wednesday before travelling on to her family home in a village in Punjab state.             |