India has decided to make fresh efforts for extradition of Purulia arms drop case prime accused Kim Davy after a Danish court turned down a plea for sending him here to face trial in the 17 year-old sensational case.
The decision was taken after Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh discussed the issue of extradition of Kim Davy to India with Indian Ambassador to Denmark Ashok Attri last week.
"It was decided that the case should be pursued vigorously with the Danish government to extradite Davy to India at the earliest," a Home Ministry official said.
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 case.
However, Davy, a Danish citizen and the prime accused in the case, had managed to escape.
Since then the Indian government has been pursuing the case for his extradition to India with the Danish government. The extradition order was passed by the Danish government on April 9, 2010.
However, Davy approached a local court challenging the order of the Danish government. The court set aside the order.
Thereafter, an appeal of the 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.
However, despite serious efforts of the Indian Government, no appeal was preferred by the Danish authorities in the apex court in Denmark against the order of the High Court.
The Latvian crew members, who were arrested, were released from a prison in Kolkata in 2000 after requests from the Russian authorities, while Bleach was given a presidential pardon in 2004 following requests by the British government.