Buddhadeb demands judicial probe into arms drop case

KOLKATA: Considering the gravity of the situation and in the interest of internal security, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday demanded a judicial inquiry by the Centre into the dropping of arms from an aircraft in the Jhalda area of the State's Purulia district on December 17-18, 1995.

This follows disclosures made by Kim Davy, a prime accused in the case, and Peter Bleach, who served a sentence in connection with the incident, to a national television channel on Thursday that the air-drop operation was approved by the Centre to destabilise and bring down the Left Front government at that time.

Not only has Mr. Bhattacharjee demanded a judicial probe into the operation, implicit in his press release issued here is his questioning why the Centre had not addressed the goings-on with the sense of urgency expected of it.

The Chief Minister has pointed out that a communiqué despatched by the Union Home Ministry alerting the State's Home Department about the air-drop reached here only after the operation was completed.

“Very casual”

The message dated December 12, 1995, was sent in a “very casual manner” from Delhi through ordinary post. The wire service was not taken recourse to for sending it despite the gravity of the situation.

The huge cache of weapons that were air-dropped was meant for the Ananda Margis, he stated.

Given the seriousness of the air-drop operation, the State Government had handed over the responsibility of investigations to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Chief Minister said. The sophisticated weapons that had been air-dropped were handed over by the State Police who had retrieved the arms to the CBI. Since the start of investigations the weapons seized have remained in the CBI's custody, the Chief Minister said.

The “political conspiracy” behind the arms-drop has come to light through the media nearly 16 years after the operation, he noted.

The leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also taken exception to the Centre's failure to inform the West Bengal government about the matter in time even though it had been alerted of the arms-drop by the British intelligence.

The CPI (M) Polit Bureau has already asserted that it is imperative for the Centre to explain why it failed to act on the information provided to it by the British intelligence.