By IANS,
New Delhi : The government will decide on renewing a request to the US for extradition of Warren Anderson, former chairman of Union Carbide Corp, after getting additional evidence from investigating agencies on the Bhopal gas tragedy, a senior official of the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said Wednesday.
“The MEA has been pressing investigating agencies for additional evidence,” the official said.
“There is no conflict between the MEA and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The government will take a collective view on it and proceed accordingly after consulting agencies,” he said.
The official made these remarks with reference to the statement of former CBI official B.R. Lall Tuesday that in the early 1990s the MEA had asked the investigating agency not to pursue the case against Anderson.
The investigating agency accused Anderson in a Bhopal court of criminal negligence and culpability in leakage of tonnes of deadly methyl-iso-cyanate from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant in 1984, which killed thousands instantly and many more later.
The only time that Anderson had a brush with the Indian law was Dec 7, 1984, when he along with some Indian officials of Union Carbide was arrested in Bhopal after registration of the police complaint at the Hanuman Ganj police station Dec 3, 1984.
Anderson was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, grievous assault and killing and poisoning human beings and animals due to leakage of the deadly gas. But he was released on bail the same day.
The Bhopal court later Jan 1, 1992 issued a proclamation for Anderson’s appearance before it. The court’s proclamation was published in the Washington Post.
The central government was directed to seek Anderson’s extradition after a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him.
The central government in May-June 2003 sent requests to the US justice department seeking extradition of Anderson, which were rejected in 2004.
The last request for extradition issued by MEA was in September 2008, said the ministry official.