Kolkata, Apr 30 (ANI): Union Finance Minister and Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday set aside the demands for a judicial probe into the 1995 Purulia arms drop case.
"An accused is leveling allegation and a hue and cry is being raised on that basis. Judicial inquiry is demanded. Were they sleeping all these years?" asked Mukherjee before leaving for campaigning in Midnapore.
"Indrajit Gupta of CPI, who hailed from Bengal, was Union Home Minister for two years. L K Advani was Union Home Minister for six years. Three (assembly) elections were held in Bengal since then. This allegation was never raised," he added.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Prakash Karat had on Friday demanded a judicial inquiry into the Purulia arms drop case of 1995.
Bhattacharjee said a political conspiracy had been exposed in the media behind the arms drop 16 years ago.
Meanwhile, Prakash Karat said: "There should be a judicial inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act and a sitting judge of the Supreme Court should head that inquiry. The extradition of Kim Davy alias Nielsen should be expedited. There should be no further delay because he is the kingpin in the whole operation."
The Purulia arms drop case was an infamous incident in which unauthorised arms were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in West Bengal's Purulia District on December 17, 1995.
A Latvian aircraft dropped a large consignment of arms 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 December 17, 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 in Mumbai. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
