All documents in order, says CBI on Kim Davy issue

Facing flak for sending a team to extradite Purulia arms drop case accused Kim Davy with an expired warrant, an embarrassed Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday said all documents are now "in order" for the case to move forward in a Danish court.

The CBI sleuths were left red-faced after Davy's counsel pointed out during the court proceedings in Copenhagen that the arrest warrant issued by a special CBI court against his client had expired in January this year.

The team, which reached there on May 16 to assist local authorities, immediately sought a fresh warrant against Davy from the special CBI court.

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 Copenhagen. The agency then sent the 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," spokesperson Dharini Mishra said.

A two-member team of the 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.

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 is no extradition treaty between the two countries.