London: Bollywood music composer Nadeem Akhtar Saifee today (Dec 5, 2003) 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 said.

Nadeem, charged with participating in a conspiracy to kill audio king Gulshan Kumar, said a UK 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 under a stringent law for alleged lapses in the fake stamp paper scam probe.

Even in his case, Nadeem alleged, Sharma was responsible for the "lop-sided" probe.

PTI