Kim Davy my stand trial in India

Kim Davy – the last of the 1995 Purulia arms dropping case accused – may finally have to stand trial in India, reports Aloke Tikku.

Kim Davy – the last of the 1995 Purulia arms dropping case accused – may finally have to stand trial in India.

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The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a solemn sovereign guarantee to Denmark not to send Davy to the gallows even if he is sentenced to death to secure his extradition. A similar guarantee was given to Portugal to enable extradition of underworld don Abu Salem.

If the extradition cases passes muster in Denmark’s judicial system, Kim Davy alias Niels Holock Nielsen be the first Danish national to be extradited to this part of the world.

Kim Davy alias Niels Holock Nielsen is believed to hold the key to the mystery behind an Russian AN-26 flying over Purulia in West Bengal parachuting arms, ammunition and anti-tank grenades on a chilly December night in 1995.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had suspected followers of a religious sect, Ananda Marga, to be the intended recipients but investigators later came around to conceding that they had not reached to the bottom of the case.

Davy had been detained after the aircraft landed in Mumbai but is alleged to paid off Indian officials and fled the country. His accomplices, British arms-dealer Peter Bleach, and five Russians of Latvian origins were caught, tried and convicted. They were, however, granted Presidential pardon by the government under diplomatic pressure and sent back to their countries.

Information and Broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the Cabinet approval for the guarantee would require the government to remit the sentence of death penalty, if any, to that of life imprisonment. An official said Davy was unlikely to serve out his sentence in India even if convicted and would be repatriated to Denmark to serve the jail term. The Repatriation of Prisoners Act enacted three years ago also provides for this transfer.

Dasmunsi said the Cabinet had also approved setting up of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology with an initial investment of Rs 270 crore and an annual recurring cost of Rs 40 crore.

The Cabinet has also approved introduction of a bill in Parliament to regulate private detective agencies through a system of mandatory licensing. “This legislation will ensure that they work within the ambit of legal framework and are accountable to a regulatory authority,” he said.