Bollywood music composer Nadeem Akhtar Saifee on Friday urged the Centre and Maharashtra government to drop the charges framed against him in the Gulshan Kumar murder case as the trial court in Mumbai has rejected the conspiracy angle and acquitted most of the accused.
"I want to come back to India but with honour and dignity. India is my vatan (motherland) and for seven years I have been away," Nadeem told PTI on telephone from London.
Nadeem, charged with participating in a conspiracy to kill audio Gulshan Kumar, said a British court had dismissed the extradition proceedings initiated by the Indian government and the trial court had also rejected the conspiracy charge in the case.
He was, therefore, urging the government to drop the charges against him, Nadeem said.
The Maharashtra government has moved the Mumbai high court challenging the trial court's order.
The music composer said his case was investigated by the then Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) R S Sharma who has been arrested for alleged lapses in the fake stamp papers scam.
Even in his case, Nadeem alleged, Sharma was responsible for the 'lop-sided' probe.
Nadeem said he had already written letters to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and authorities in Maharashtra urging them to consider dropping the charges.
"Although I am settled in London, I need to come back simply because I am attached to my motherland and I love India," Nadeem, who runs a music studio in London, told PTI.
On August 12, 1997, Gulshan Kumar was gunned down outside a temple in suburban Juhu. Nadeem was holidaying in the UK with his family when the murder took place. He has not returned since.