The Purulia arms drop case is the legal case regarding an incident on 17 December 1995 in which unauthorised arms were dropped from anAntonov An-26 aircraft in Purulia district in the state of West Bengal in India. The chief accused "Kim Davy" (real name Niels Holck, alias Niels Christian Nielsen) claims that it was a conspiracy of the Congress Indian government together with RAW andMI5 to overthrow the communist government inWest Bengal and he was given assurances from the central government about his safety and return to Denmark. He further alleges that MP Pappu Yadav, who is in touch with the Prime Minister of Indiafacilitated his safe exit from India.
Background
Background
A Latvian aircraft dropped a large consignment ofarms including several hundred AK-47 rifles and more than a million rounds of ammunition over a large area in Jhalda, Ghatanga, Belamu, Maramu villages of Purulia district on the night of 17 December 1995. Several days later, when the plane re-entered Indian airspace, it was intercepted by the Indian Air Force MiG-21 and forced to land.
Motive and recipient
While the true motive of the operation remains shrouded in mystery and conjecture, the BBC, after its investigation into it, alleged that arms were intended for the socio-spiritual organization Ananda Marga. This has been disputed by the prime accused in the case, Kim Davy, who claims the central government itself was behind the arms drop to counter the CPI(M) cadres.
An Indian court in 1997 determined that the Ananda Marga group was indeed the intended recipient of the guns and ammunition. Based on the pilot's testimony, along with other evidence such as a photograph of the Ananda Marga headquarters on the aircraft, the Judge ruled "as per the materials available I hold that it has been established from the materials on record that the places where the arms were targeted to be dropped were of Anandamargies and precisely three storied white building was the target point and at that target point the arms were tried to be dropped from a flying aircraft and the aircraft has been pin pointed as per the evidence and materials on record." However, despite the passage of years, many details of the incident are wrapped in mystery, and there has been considerable speculation as to the purpose and modality of the operation.
Arrest and sentencing
The crew of the aircraft consisted of five Latvian citizens and Peter Bleach, a British citizen and an exSpecial Air Service operative turned mercenary who was based in Yorkshire and involved in arms dealing. (However, Annie Machon, the former MI5 officer, accuses Bleach of being an MI6 agent in her book "Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers". In numerous interviews, Bleach has always evaded questions on this subject and has declined to answer questions on his military background.) They were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment while alleged kingpin Niels Christian Nielsen (aka Kim Peter Davy), a Danish citizen and member of the Ananda Marga group, escaped. Later, anInterpol red notice was issued against him. Following the intervention of Russian authorities, the Latvian crew (who gained Russian citizenship while in Indian custody) were later pardoned and released in 2000. An appeal has been submitted by the pilots lawyer before the Calcutta High Court in March 2000 challenging the trial results and the judgement but it is still pending. Peter Bleach, too, was released on 4 February 2004, via a presidentialpardon, allegedly due to persistent British Government pressure. In 2007 Kim Davy was traced by Denmark authorities and on April 9, 2010 Danish government decided to extradite Kim Davy to India but Danish authorities failed to successfully defend their decision in the Danish high court. The court, therefore, refused extradition of Kim Davy to India. Further, Danish authorities decided not to appeal the high court judgement to the Supreme Court.
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