Exiled composer Nadeem might be getting protection from Dawood

In a shocking disclosure, music composer Nadeem Saifee, a suspect in the sensational murder of music baron Gulshan Kumar, is staying under the protection of Karachi-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

TV news channels India Today and Aaj Tak, in an expose on Monday evening, aired phone call intercepts of Dawood Ibrahim with his aides that suggested that Nadeem was under protection.

Nadeem is staying in exile in the United Kingdom ever since he was named an accused in the Gulshan Kumar murder.

Gulshan Kumar, the founder of T-Series music brand and Super Cassettes Industries Ltd, was shot dead on August 12, 1997, outside a temple in Andheri.

The Indian government lost the case for Nadeem's extradition in a British court. The music director of Nadeem-Shravan fame had given several hits in the '90s.

The name of Abu Salem, then a lieutenant of Dawood, too figured. However, when he was extradited from Portugal, this case was not considered. It was said that Gulshan Kumar had a personal dispute with Nadeem and the former had also refused to pay extortion money to the D-company.

The intercepts that the two channels played had Dawood's voice, which was confirmed by police and intelligence sources.

In fact, the channels had decided to hand over the tapes to Thane police, which had recently arrested Iqbal Kaskar, the younger brother of Dawood Ibrahim, in a series of extortion cases.

The man who called Dawood used codes like "Ustad" and "London friend" an apparent reference to Nadeem. The channels had accessed three calls between Dawood and his henchmen.