CBI still awaiting return of French accused in spy case

They were allowed to leave the country on January this year by the Kerala High Court for visiting their native land following an understanding between the governments of India and France.

Six months have elapsed since then, and the accused have not returned to India for the trial. Following this, the CJM recently issued a non-bailable warrant for securing the presence of the accused in Kochi which was forwarded to the Ministry of External affairs by the CBI.

The Ministry, through the French High Commission, delivered it to the French Government for securing the presence of the accused.

The counsel forthe two accused had approached the CJM pleading not to execute the warrant issued under section 70 of the Criminal Procedure Code as the Code had its application only in Indian territory. The accused were undergoing medical treatment in France and hence their absence, argued the counsel.

Following this, the CJM has posted the case for November 4 for judgment on this issue.

The International political developments after India’s nuclear tests are also holding back the CBI from putting their demands of deportation of the French nationals in unambiguous terms.

France was one of the few countries that instantaneously supported India following the nuclear tests and hence political bosses may not like to risk antagonising the French by bringing the two accused. This has left the CBI men a worried lot.

Grapevine in the diplomatic circles has it that French President Chirac demanded the release of the the French nationals as a precondition to accepting the offer for being the chief guest at the last RepublicDay celebration in New Delhi. Confronted by this catch-22 situation, the CBI is learnt to have briefed Prime Minister A B Vajpayee of the case before his recent visit to France.

If the CBI fails to get the accused back, the case will have to be split up separating the charges of all the three accused and trial proceedings will have to be initiated against Captain Futardo, the third accused. The court may later initiate steps for proclaiming the two accused as `declared offenders’ invoking section 82 of the Cr PC, legal experts point out. As all doors have been closed before the CBI, it is pinning hopes on the `goodwill’ of the French Government and the belief that it will honour the bilateral agreement.

The French vessel Galathee, used by the accused, was boarded by the Coast Guard and impounded on December 28, 1995, after its crew were found carrying out unauthorised surveys.

The charge against the accused were that they, in criminal conspiracy with Captain Futardo, conducted illegal marine survey inthe Indian territorial waters off Kochi with an objective of exploring and exploiting Indian territorial waters, the Exclusive Economic Zone, and seabed resources.

In the survey, says the chargesheet, they collected sensitive bottom-profiles data using sidescan sonar, magnetometer, etc. near the Naval Base and the Kochi Harbour. This act constituted inherent security risk to the Indian Naval operations from a strategic point of view and was prejudicial to the interest, sovereignty and interest of the country and the security of the State. The case evoked wide media attention both in India and abroad as the accused were influential mariners of France, and a former Member of Parliament from Kerala was chargesheeted by the CBI.

But the CJM later dismissed the conspiracy charge against the former MP stating that “there is no prima facie case” against him.