Purulia arms case: Denmark asks India to give fresh proposal for Davy extradition

New Delhi: Talks between India and Denmark on expediting the extradition of prime accused in Purulia arms drop case Kim Davy to face trial here failed to make any headway on Thursday as the European country asked for a fresh proposal which will be examined by their justice department. "The talks were held in a cordial manner and there was a discussion on extradition of Kim Davy," Union Home Secretary RK Singh told reporters.

However, sources in the delegation said the Indian side expressed their disappointment over sending a fresh proposal and conveyed that this would delay in bringing the accused to justice. It was conveyed that it took nine years for Denmark to decide on the earlier extradition request and the fresh proposal appeared to be a delaying tactics yet again.

The visiting Danish delegation headed by Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Justice Ministry Jens Christian Bulow assured India that any fresh proposal might be expeditiously processed. CBI reiterated its earlier offer asking them to handover Davy to India so that he could stand a trial here and, if sentenced, can serve the prison term in Denmark, the sources said.

India expressed its disappointment over sending a fresh proposal and conveyed this would delay in bringing the accused to justice.

The Home Secretary also said there was a provision in the law whereby prisoners can be transferred to their country for serving the prison term. The Indian delegation comprising officials from Home, Law and External Affairs Ministries and CBI was led by Special Secretary (Internal Secretary) in the Home Ministry S Jayaraman.

India has also made an option to try Davy in a special court within the Indian Embassy in Copenhagen. After a Denmark court had turned down the extradition plea and the authorities in Copenhagen refused to go in for appeal, India, in a bid to put pressure, scaled down its diplomatic relations with that country last year.

The case relates to an incident on the night of December 17, 1995, when an AN-26 aircraft dropped arms and ammunition in West Bengal's Purulia district. The consignment had hundreds of AK-47 rifles, pistols, anti-tank grenades, rocket launchers and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Five Latvians and British national Peter Bleach were arrested in connection with the incident. However, Davy, a Danish citizen, and the prime accused in the case, had managed to escape. Since then, the Indian government has been pressing for his extradition to India with the Danish government.

The extradition order was passed by Danish government on April 9, 2010. However, Davy had approached a local court challenging the order of the Danish government. The court set aside the order.

Thereafter, an appeal of Danish government was also set aside by the High Court in Denmark on the ground that if Davy is extradited to India for prosecution, there would be a real risk that he would be subjected to treatment in violation of article 3 of the European Human Rights Convention.

The arrested Latvian crew members were released from a prison in Kolkata in 2000 after requests from Russian authorities while Bleach was given a presidential pardon in 2004 following requests by British government.

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