Diminishing Return

HALF a million pounds seems a small price for Nadeem to stay out of the Mumbai police custody and on in London. A £200,000 deposit in a London court for conditional freedom on bail; two other businessmen standing surety of £50,000 each and a hefty fee to leading lawyers in London—all to maintain that distance between him and Mumbai.

Nadeem, in a smart blue suit, sat silently in the dock at Court number 1 at Bow Street on September 24 where the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) launched extradition proceedings against him on the request of the Indian government. Clive Nicholls, the Queen's Counsel and solicitor with Henri Bradman & Co, spoke for him in a courtroom where usually only the most junior lawyers appear.

The £200,000 paid by Nadeem—or someone on his behalf—is exceptionally large by standards of security paid into courts. "The money was obviously not brought in by Nadeem from India through RBI," says an Indian lawyer in the spectators' gallery. When Nadeem told journalists in early September he was planning to return to Mumbai in 10 days, he was actually busy making arrangements to do the opposite. Within the court, the proceedings were set to put the Indian government on trial. The Mumbai police in a foreign court becomes formally the Government of India, a fellow Commonwealth country. The credibility of their case will reflect on the country's standing in the courtroom when the evidence is presented. The date for that has been fixed for November 3, 20 days earlier than the date sought by the CPS.

Henri Bradman & Co will hold their fire against the Indian government until then, but there was already a taste of things to come at the hearing in London last week. "In a case of conspiracy to murder, I imagine the Indian authorities would have the evidence before the provisional arrest," Nicholls said in court. If the Indian government had reason enough to ask for Nadeem's arrest by Scotland Yard, Nicholls argued, why did it need another 60 days to submit that evidence in court in London? Nadeem and his lawyers seem eager for the legal fight ahead. "He can't remain in custodial limbo indefinitely," Nicholls argues. "There must be a limit on the time for which a foreign government, in this case a Commonwealth country, can keep the court waiting and the accused in suspense."

Nadeem is not being tried for murder in a London court. The magistrate before whom the arguments are being presented only has to decide whether the Mumbai police have a prima facie case against him. If it appears to the magistrate (through arguments presented by the CPS on behalf of the Indian government) that they do, then he can order extradition. If he does, Nadeem can go in appeal to the High Court, and further to the House of Lords if the courts give him leave to do so. He'd also have the right of appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The least that Nadeem will get out of these proceedings is to gain time. A ruling against extradition before the Bow Street magistrates would be proclaimed by Nadeem as a vindication of his position. He would then have a case to stay on in Britain, with the Indian case against him itself evidence of what he could claim is a move to hound him politically. It could, one immigration lawyer said, "become a basis for him to seek political asylum and just stay on in Britain". If he were to return, a court in India would find it hard to convict him in a murder case after being apparently "cleared" by a London court. Nadeem is evidently resisting extradition to India with a long-term gameplan in mind.

The energy and resources with which Nadeem is resisting return has surprised the CPS. Just before the hearing in court, the CPS said it was possible that at the hearing Nadeem would offer to return on his own, as he had earlier said he would. The challenge thrown at the Indian government instead heralds an open confrontation between the Indian government and Nadeem—and the friends behind him. "I love my India," goes a popular song from Pardes for which Nadeem was one of the music directors. Right now he is doing all he can to stay away from it.