With a former CBI official indicating that the agency was under pressure from the ministry of external affairs not to seek Mr Anderson’s extradition, the ministry lobbed the ball back into the CBI’s court on Wednesday. A senior official in the ministry said here that it had approached the premier investigating agency as recently as 2008 for more information so that the matter of extradition of Warren Anderson could be taken up with the US government.
The Congress said that the extradition process of Mr Anderson, now 89, should be completed. Spokesperson Jayanthi Natrajan said that the Congress wants the perpetrators of the world’s worst industrial disaster to be brought to trial.
The MEA official said that the ministry had made several requests to the US government for Anderson’s extradition and the last such request was made in September 2008. However, the American side responded to this request by maintaining that it does not meet the relevant provisions of the India-US extradition treaty.
The official went on to assert that immediately after the American reply was received, the then Indian ambassador to Washington Ronen Sen had communicated to the then CBI director that the MEA needs more information if it is to take the request for Mr Anderson’s extradition, forward.
The first GoM on the Bhopal gas disaster had been headed by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister (CM) and former Union minister Arjun Singh. He was chief minister of MP when the industrial disaster occurred in December 1984. While the Congress would not mention him by name on Wednesday, it gave enough indications that Mr Singh should be asked many of the questions that are being raised now.
Speaking to reporters today, AICC chief spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said, “Jitne bhi sawal uth rahe hain unka uttar milna chahiye aur uttar sirf uttardayee log hi de sakte hain (Whatever questions are being raised need to be answered and they will come only from those who were responsible.”
Mr Dwivedi, however, said that the tragedy was a catastrophe and that the verdict in the case is “outrageous”.
He further said: “We need to look at the laws dealing with such situations and ensure that nothing of this sort recurs in the country. The UPA is looking at the issue from this perspective and therefore a GoM has been constituted.”
Mr Lall had told this newspaper: “I received a letter from the MEA saying not to pursue the matter of Warren Anderson’s extradition. CBI investigation was influenced and commanded by some officials, as a result of which justice in the Bhopal gas leakage case got delayed and, hence, denied”. The MEA official said the ministry had not come across any such letter.
How can MEA take a view on its own? the official shot back, adding that the ministry does not work in isolation.