Another goof up, CBI team in Denmark with expired warrant for

New Delhi, May 19 (PTI) After the goof up in India's
'50 most wanted' list given to Pakistan, Government faced
another embarassment when a CBI team landed in Copenhagen to
seek extradition of the main accused in the 1995 Purulia arms
drop case Kim Davy with an expired warrant.
A two-member Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
team, which reached Copenhagen on May 16, was left red-faced
after Davy's counsel pointed out during the court proceedings
there that the arrest warrant issued by a special CBI court in
Kolkata against his client had expired in January this year.
The team which was in the Danish capital to assist
local authorities immediately sought a fresh warrant against
Davy from the special CBI court.
The Kolkata Special Crime Branch officials of the
agency scrambled to get the fresh warrant which was issued by
the special CBI court and a scanned copy was sent to the team
in Copenhangen. The agency then sent an original copy of the
warrant as well so that team there is fully equipped when
hearing resumes on Thursday.
"All documents are in order with the CBI team," CBI
spokesperson Dharini Mishra said on Thursday. A CBI official
was earlier quoted as saying that an oversight had led the CBI
team go to Denmark with an invalid warrant.
The BJP wasted little time in seizing on the second
embarassment in the space of two days to come down heavily on
the government. Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj called it a
"big embarrassment" and "another blunder".
"Here is another blunder. CBI reached Copenhagen with
an expired warrant for Kim Davy. Big embarrassment for the
country. Is anybody accountable in this government," Swaraj
said in a twitter posting.
Referring to government's response on appointment of
the Central Vigilance Commissioner as well as on goof up in
the 'most wanted' list, Swaraj said 'oversight' has become the
"all time excuse" for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
dispensation.
"They say expired warrant is an 'oversight'. Oversight
in CVC papers. Oversight in India's Most Wanted List. It is an
all time excuse," she said.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said the government must
quickly remedy the situation in the interest of the country.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday accepted as a
"mistake" the inclusion of terror accused Wazhul Kamar Khan in
the list of most wanted fugitives given to Pakistan, calling
it a "genuine error" by Mumbai Police and "oversight" by the
Intelligence Bureau.
A two-member team of CBI is in Copenhagen to assist
authorities there with the facts and evidence collected
against Davy. Though India is not a party to the case in the
Danish court, the role of the team is limited to helping the
prosecutors there with necessary material evidence.

A five-member constitutional bench of the Denmark High
Court is hearing the plea of the Denmark government which
challenged a lower court order against the extradition of Davy
to India.
The decision to despatch the CBI team was taken days
after Davy and one of the convicted persons in the case, Peter
Bleach, had alleged that the Purulia arms drop operation was
planned by the Indian government and its intelligence agencies
to destabilise the Left Front government in West Bengal.
The government had, however, quickly denied the
allegation saying it was aimed at misleading the prosecuting
agency and the court in Denmark which are seized with the
matter of his extradition to India.
The CBI had registered the case on December 28, 1995
after sophisticated arms including AK-47 assault rifles,
anti-tank grenades and other weapons were dropped from a
foreign plane in the fields of Purulia in West Bengal on the
night of December 17, 1995.
An Interpol Red Corner Notice was issued against Kim
Davy in 1996 on the request of the agency. Since he was traced
to Denmark in 2001, efforts continued to extradite him to
India even though there was no extradition treaty between the
two countries.