New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) The government Saturday trashed as ‘mischievous’ Purulia arms drop accused Kim Davy’s allegations that Indian politicians and state agencies were involved in the 1995 conspiracy.
An official spokesman in a press statement said that Davy’s interview to a TV channel was ‘mischievous and aimed at misleading the prosecuting agency and a court in Denmark’.
Terming the accused as a proclaimed offender, the statement said Davy had masterminded the arms drop and would be appearing in the Denmark court for his possible extradition to India to face trial.
‘Earlier also he has admitted his role in this crime not only in front of the print and visual media including BBC and in a book written by him, but also in front of Danish court at Hillerod in Copenhagen,’ the statement said.
Davy in an interview to Times Now TV channel early this week alleged that the drop was planned by the Indian government in collaboration with British intelligence to destabilise the Communist government in West Bengal.
The government in the statement asserted that the ‘self-serving allegations and attempt to give a political colour to his crime’ was aimed at to ‘deflect the judicial process of his extradition’.
The allegations were ‘not substantiated by the evidence and facts’, it said.
Referring to the accusations by British citizen Peter Bleach, convicted and sentenced to life by a court for the crime, the statement said: ‘The allegations and contentions of Bleach could have been raised during his free and fair trial in an open court of law. He was given every opportunity to prove his alleged innocence whereas the trial court found him one of the main conspirators and convicted him for life.’
It also denied that Bleach’s conviction was set aside by any superior court in India.
The statement said the government was seriously trying to extradite Davy from Denmark, in spite of the fact that there was no extradition treaty between Denmark and India.
It said the case remained under investigation and the government was ‘committed to unravel the truth and the entire conspiracy behind the crime and to bring all the guilty to justice’.
On the night of Dec 17, 1995, a large consignment of arms, including several hundred AK-47 rifles, anti-tank weapons and ammunition were dropped from a Latvian aircraft in Purulia.
Five Latvian citizens and British arms dealer Peter Bleach were arrested, but Davy managed to escape to Denmark. The Danish government wants India to ensure that Davy would not be given the death sentence if extradited, which has been agreed to.
The arrested were tried in courts and sentenced to life terms, but eventually let out. Bleach was extradited to England in 2004 during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA rule, purportedly under British pressure.
