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Home ministry had prior information
of Purulia arms drop: CBI

Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday admitted in the Delhi High Court that the Union Home Ministry had received advance secret intelligence inputs about arms dropping in Purulia district in 1995 and the state governments of Bihar and West Bengal were instructed to handle the 'top secret' matter.

CBI made the statement in an affidavit while replying to a petition alleging that the then Joint Secretary in the home ministry Shashi Prakash, despite having prior information about the arms supply by some international gun runners, had failed to lodge an FIR with the police immediately, which is mandatory in such cases under the Criminal Procedure Code.

"After top secret intelligence inputs were received by the home ministry, the concerned authorities sensitised all concerned. Shashi Prakash, the then Joint Secretary, Internal Security Division, as a measure of abundant caution wrote to state governments of Bihar and West Bengal for handling of the 'secret' and 'top secret' matter," the CBI said.

Giving a clean chit to Prakash against any liability, the CBI said he could not be held 'responsible for any reported lapse in this regard'.

The issue was brought before the court in a writ filed by Deepak Kumar Prahladka, who had sought a thorough probe into the arms dropping incident before the Calcutta High Court.

Prahladka contended that sending of the information to state governments was not the issue, but whether he (Prakash) had fulfilled his mandatory obligation under Section 39(1)(i) of the CrPC by informing a nearby police station about the impeding incident.

A division bench, headed by Justice Anil Dev Singh, while issuing notices to the Centre and CBI on October 23 after filing of the writ, said the petitioner had raised a pertinent question of law against Shashi Prakash.

Meanwhile, another bench of the high court on Thursday listed for hearing on Friday a separate petition by Prahladka, seeking a direction to CBI to file an Action Take Report on the steps taken to arrest Kim Davy, the main accused in the arms drop case.

Davy, whose nationality was still a matter of debate, had been declared a proclaimed offender by the agency.

The petitioner alleged CBI was not taking any serious steps to secure the arrest of Davy, who was reportedly living in the United States of America at present as per media reports.

"CBI has not sent any letters rogatory to US authorities to enable them to arrest him," the PIL alleged.

"After filing of the chargesheet in the case in March 1996, the CBI had sent letters rogatory to Bulgaria, Latvia, Thailand and UK and stated that investigation is still going on through Interpol, but no request letters appear to have been sent for the arrest of Kim Davy," it claimed.

Accusing the Indian authorities of soft pedalling on Davy, the PIL alleged he was allowed to escape from Bombay airport on December 22, 1995, when he landed there after dropping arms in Purulia.

A Calcutta court had convicted four Latvian crew members of the plane, which dropped the arms, and British national Peter Bleach.

While the Latvians were given clemency by President K R Narayanan, Bleach's plea was still pending before the President.

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