Decide on de-freezing the five bank accounts of actress Monica Bedi by December 3, the Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Bedi, extradited gangster Abu Salem’s former girlfriend, moved the high court last month contending that HDFC Bank was not allowing her to operate the accounts even after the Bhopal court had vacated its order to freeze her accounts.

The Bhopal court, which acquitted the 34-year-old actress for possessing forged passports in June 2007, had ordered for her bank accounts to be frozen in 2002 to secure her presence in the case registered by the CBI.

The order was withdrawn on September 6, 2007, after Bedi’s acquittal was upheld by a local appellate court at Bhopal.

On Thursday, her lawyer Niteen Pradhan argued that her accounts are held back though she is not an accused under the repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

He pointed out that her transactions have already been probed by other government agencies under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and other such enactments.

The court has given the CBI time till December 3 to decide on de-freezing the account after CBI counsel Mandar Goswami asked for time to seek instructions.

Salem and Bedi were deported from Portugal on November 11, 2005, after they spent over three years in the custody of Lisbon police.

Bedi has been acquitted in one of the three forged passport cases and convicted in another. The third case is pending in a Hyderabad court.