Taking a lenient view, the Supreme Court on Monday cancelled the passport of Monica Bedi, the Bollywood starlet and girl friend of gangster Abu Salem, and directed the authorities to release her on bail.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, directed the Union Government to cancel the passport issued to Bedi by the Regional Passport Office at Mumbai in 1999. The Special CBI Judge in Hyderabad had been asked to release her without insisting on the condition to surrender her original passport. The former actress was extradited along with Salem from Lisbon in Portugal.