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Plea for Nadeem's extradition rejected;
appeal likely

The plea by the government of India to extradite music director Nadeem Akhtar Saifee, one of the accused in the Gulshan Kumar murder case, was Thursday rejected by the London High Court, Nadeem's lawyer Abdul Majeed Memon said in Bombay.

Memon said that the plea was rejected by a division bench headed by Deputy Chief Justice Rose and Justice Newman. The 26-page order was delivered Thursday.

''The judges disallowed the Indian government's petition to extradite Nadeem and said he was falsely implicated by the Bombay police,'' Memon said.

"We order that Nadeem Akhtar Saifee be discharged forthwith in relation to the offences in respect of which his return is sought by the Union of India," Lord Justice Rose and Justice Newman of the high court said in their judgement.

The judges ordered conditional bail to Nadeem pending an appeal by the Indian government to the House of Lords against the judgement.

The judges ruled that Nadeem would remain on residential bail and his passport would remain confiscated. There would not be any need for the 200,000 pounds surety or reporting to police, the judges said.

Gulshan Kumar was gunned down in August, 1997 near a temple at Oshiwara, Andheri in north-west Bombay.

Asked about his future plans, Nadeem said he would continue with his music-production and carry on with his life in London. "It has been a very painful three years. Finally I'm glad it is over," he said.

Asked whether he was concerned over the fact that the India would appeal against the judgement in the House of Lords, Nadeem said, "No, never. I have won the case on merit."

The court rejected Nadeem's submission that the trial was at risk of being prejudiced because he was a Muslim and also that the Bombay police had a religious bias.

"There were several lacunae in the Bombay police case, including the fact that the Bow Street magistrate was provided only an English translation of approver Ali Sheikh's evidence which formed a cornerstone of the prosecution case against Nadeem," the court said.

The court referred to the fact that the magistrate's court had been informed of Ali Sheikh seeking to retract his confession only half way through the proceedings.

And there were several unsubstantiated statements from the Bombay police at the initial stages of the investigation, which cumulatively caused it to infer that the accusation of murder and conspiracy against Nadeem was not made in good faith and in the interest of justice, the judges said.

Officials at the Indian High Commission in London refused to comment, saying they would not like to reflect on a judicial pronouncement.

However, it was confirmed that the Crown Prosecution Service, in consultation with the Indian authorities concerned, would appeal against the decision in the House of Lords within the stipulated period of 14 days.

The Indian government will appeal in the House of Lords (the supreme court of the United Kingdom) within 14 days against the order discharging Nadeem in extradition proceedings launched to secure his presence in Gulshan Kumar murder case.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said in Bombay on Thursday night that he has recommended to the state government and the central government that they had a good case for appeal in a higher court.

The London high court's order cannot be construed as our defeat on merits but is rather a setback on technical grounds, he said.

Nikam said the London high court had not correctly appreciated the approver's evidence, which had become a bone of contention between the two sides. However, he was happy that the court had not accepted Nadeem's allegation about not getting a fair trial in India on the grounds of religion.

"This is a legal battle, one may win it or lose it. We won it in the first phase when the Bow Street magistrate held Nadeem prima facie guilty of the alleged offence," he said.

"In the second case, Nadeem has succeeded but I am optimistic that we shall win the third round in the house of Lords," he added.

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