Purulia weapons drop case charged with Kim Davy extradition soon? MEA says legal proceedings are ongoing
In a major development amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Denmark, sources have now confirmed that India is discussing Kim Davy’s extradition with the Danish government. However, India is currently tight-lipped on the extradition case and the Ministry of External Affairs is silent on the extradition timeline.
Earlier in a sensational development in the case, India had on February 23 secured the extradition of Danish national Kim Davy – the main conspirator of the high-profile and mysterious Purulia weapons drop case in 1995. According to sources, Denmark had also sent its teams to Calcutta to decide on the repatriation of Davy. However, the extradition has not yet been carried out and the MEA had previously confirmed that “legal proceedings are ongoing”.
Foreign Minister Vinay Kwatra on Kim Davy
Meanwhile, the new foreign minister, Vinay Kwatra. also chose not to comment on the extradition case. Speaking to the media, Kwatra said the legal process was ongoing. “The main defendant in the Purulia weapons drop case is a matter that is the subject of a legal process between the two countries and those processes are currently underway. It would be incorrect of me to comment on these processes,” he said.
It should be noted that Prime Minister Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to undertake a bilateral visit to Denmark in the past two decades. Earlier in 2012, New Delhi cut diplomatic ties with Copenhagen in protest at the Danish government’s decision to refuse the Supreme Court’s appeal against the lower court’s ruling rejecting an extradition request for Kim Davy alias Niels Holck in India. The extradition case was also raised by India during Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s three-day visit to India last year.
The Purulia Gun Case
India has requested the extradition of Kim Davy from Denmark to attend court proceedings in the case of the Purulia munitions drop. The case concerns the airdrop of arms and ammunition in the Purulia district of West Bengal by an Antonov AN-26 aircraft on the night of December 17, 1995. During this period Davy was involved in humanitarian activities for the inhabitants of the region, which at that time was ruled by the Communist Party of India.
The allegations list a shipment of more than a hundred AK-47 rifles, pistols and grenades, rocket launchers and nearly thousands of cartridges. Additionally, Indian authorities have claimed Kim Davy’s involvement in arms smuggling into the country. In fact, a book written by Davy titled “They Call Me a Terrorist” contained his confession that he had dropped weapons from a plane purchased in Latvia.
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