Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told a press conference here that the ruling of Bow Street magistrate was very crucial because Nadeem's extradition hinged on evidence of the approver Mohammed Ali Hussain Shaikh alias Chacha.

Nadeem's lawyers had demanded that the evidence of eyewitness, accused-turned-approver Shaikh, be excluded from the proceedings on grounds that it was obtained under torture and intimidation. If the court has rejected the admissibility of his evidence, it would have knocked off the prosecution's main plank.

This is the secondmajor setback for Nadeem. Earlier, the same magistrate had overruled objections of defence lawyers Nicholls QC to translated copies of evidence of other witnesses presented in the court.