Court records statement in Bhopal gas tragedy

A local court recorded statements of the then works manager and superintendent of Union Carbide India Ltd.

A local court on Wednesday recorded the statements of the then works manager and plant superintendent of Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) in a criminal case related to the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

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Chief Judicial Magistrate Anil Gupta recorded statements of the UCIL works manager J Mukund and plant superintendent KV Shetty, who refuted the criminal charges against them.

Mukund had earlier told the court that leakage of gas had never taken place in the UCIL factory in Bhopal before the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, but its workers had been trained to take necessary precautions in the event of any leak.

The court had last recorded statements of accused in the criminal case on February 7, on questions listed in the CBI chargesheet prepared on the basis of information provided by 178 witnesses.

The CBI had filed chargesheet against the accused on December 1987.

Apart from Shetty and Mukund, the Indian accused include production assistant SI Qureshi, former UCIL Chairman Keshub Mahindra, managing director Vijay Gokhale, production manager SP Choudhury and vice-president Kishore Kamdar.

The foreign accused include union carbide corporation, its Asian subsidiary union carbide (eastern) and former UCC chairman Warren Anderson.