New Delhi: The CBI is all set to have the underworld don and main accused in the 1993 bomb blast case, Abu Salem, and his girl friend Monica Bedi extradited to India as the legal process had entered the final phase.

Highly placed CBI sources said Salem had submitted his reply to a Portugal Court on June 3 for which the agency would soon be sending its rejoinder to the Portuguese Prosecutor General.

The CBI has also hired a local legal consultant firm "Moraos Leitao and J Galvio Tales" in Lisbon to assist the Prosecutor General's office in preparing the case as according to the law, no separate counsel could represent the agency in that country.

Meanwhile, CBI has sent its written reply to the queries raised by Monica Bedi during her trial before the Portuguese court.

She had raised three queries including whether she would face harassment as she was a Muslim; what was the guarantee that the President would not turn down her appeal against a death penalty or a life sentence exceeding 45 years and why her case would be tried in a special court and not in a normal court.

In its reply, the CBI termed her plea of being Muslim as totally baseless and said that India was a democratic country where there was no discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, creed or sex.

Replying to other points, the CBI said that the decision of council of ministers was binding on President of the country and that already the Union Cabinet had taken a decision not to award death penalty or life sentence of more than 45 years either to Salem or to Bedi.

In its reply to the third charge, the CBI said that since her case was under the Prevention of Corruption Act, it had to be tried in a Special Court and not a local court.

Besides this, any one sentenced in the Special Court could always go for an appeal in a higher court.

A decision on Monica's extradition was likely to be taken by the first fortnight of this month, the sources said.

The formal extradition request of CBI has listed Salem's involvement in three CBI cases, four cases with Delhi Police and two cases registered against him by Mumbai police.

On January 9, the Union Cabinet gave post-facto approval to the decision of not sentencing him or Bedi to death. The extradition request was handed over to the Portuguese authorities on December 27, 2002.

Salem's extradition could help in unravelling the role of Pakistan in the 1993 blasts in Mumbai, which had left 257 people dead and property to the tune of Rs 30 crore damaged.

The underworld don had been arrested, along with Bedi, in Lisbon following an Interpol Red Corner notice issued at the behest of the CBI on September 18. The CBI had also announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for his arrest.

PTI