By Omer Farooq BBC News, Hyderabad

Abu Salem and Monica Bedi were arrested in Portugal in 2002

The pair were extradited from Portugal earlier this month.

Abu Salem is a prime suspect in the 1993 bombings in Mumbai (Bombay) that killed 250 people, while Ms Bedi is facing passport forgery charges.

Her lawyer also said there was no evidence she had ever travelled on a false passport.

The lawyer, Sudip Batra, told a court in the southern city of Hyderabad that it was wrong to call his client Abu Salem's "friend" as she had been his "prisoner" for years.

'False names'

The pair were arrested in Portugal in 2002 and returned to India this month after losing a long extradition battle.

On their return, Monica Bedi was flown to Hyderabad where the passport forgery case has been pending against her for the past three years.

Abu Salem, who is facing murder, extortion and kidnapping charges in a number of cases, is being detained in Mumbai.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against Ms Bedi, Abu Salem and his wife, Sabeen, for allegedly securing passports from the Hyderabad office under false names.

Mr Batra said that Ms Bedi never knew that Abu Salem had secured a forged passport for her and claimed that the passport application and other documents did not have his client's signature.

Mr Batra is Ms Bedi's new lawyer. Abu Salem's lawyer, Owais Ahmed Siddiqui, had appeared in court for her soon after she was brought to Hyderabad on 11 November.

The court on Monday reserved its judgement on Ms Bedi's bail plea and the next hearing will be on 1 December.