The CBI on Tuesday moved a Delhi court to obtain a letter rogatory to the US authorities for extradition of former Union carbide corporation chairman Warren Anderson to stand trial for his criminal culpability in the 1984 Bhopal gas leakage tragedy, which had left over 15,000 people dead and maimed several thousands.
In a 33-page application submitted to the court of chief metropolitan magistrate Vinod Yadav, CBI said Anderson should be extradited from the USA to face the trial which is pending against him in the court of Bhopal chief judicial magistrate.
"Warren M. Anderson is liable to be prosecuted on extradition to India for offence under section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder)," said the CBI referring to the extradition treaty of September 14, 1999 between the US and India.
"As per the provision contained in the extradition treaty dated September 14, 1999 between the USA and India, reciprocity has been granted for the extraditable offence punishable for a period of more than one year or by a more severe penalty.
"The offence involved in under section 304, 326 IPC which entails more than one year imprisonment are covered under the provision of dual criminality as these offences are punishable in India as well as in the USA," the CBI said in its plea.
The CMM decided to hear the CBI plea for Anderson's extradition on Wednesday.
Anderson, 90, never faced trial for his role in triggering the world's worst industrial disaster over 26 years ago and was declared a proclaimed offender by the court of Bhopal chief judicial magistrate in 1993.
Arrested on December 7, 1984, within days after the December 1984 tragedy, Anderson was granted bail by a Bhopal court. But he flew back to the US and never returned to India to stand trial in the case.