Denmark has assured that it will re-examine the “techno-legal aspects” of the possible extradition of Purulia arms drop mastermind Kim Davy, after the Danish Government had previously turned down India’s request for his extradition.
This assurance was conveyed by Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt during her meeting with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on the sidelines of the ASEM summit earlier this week.
“I am pleased to report the Prime Minister was very receptive to the information that I gave, and also said that techno-legal examination afresh is called for and will be done by them,” he told reporters on Thursday.
In June 2011, Denmark’s High Court had refused the CBI’s request for extradition of Davy, on the grounds of “torture or other inhuman treatment”. India had approached the Danish Government to appeal in Supreme Court, but it was turned down, claiming that no more fresh appeals were possible under Danish law.
On December 17, 1995, a Latvian aircraft dropped 240 AK-47 rifles, 10 rocket launchers and 81 anti-tank grenades over Purulia in West Bengal. The arms were allegedly meant for an organisation called Anand Marg which wanted to revolt against the Communist party government in the state. Davy, the prime conspirator in the sensational arms drop case, along with Peter Bleach, a retired British Air force pilot, allegedly hatched the entire conspiracy.
After being a fugitive for years, Davy was caught in Denmark on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner Notice in 2001. After his arrest, the mastermind of the Purulia operation claimed that the Indian agencies were also involved in the arms drop case and the Air Force’s radar in this area was switched off so that the aircraft was not picked up when it flew in to drop the arms.