Will consider plea for Andersons extradition,says US; India to consult AG

With the US nod to a fair consideration to any fresh request for former Union Carbide CEO Warren Andersons extradition on Saturday,the Government is set to consult the Attorney General in the matter....

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With the US nod to a fair consideration to any fresh request for former Union Carbide CEO Warren Andersons extradition on Saturday,the Government is set to consult the Attorney General in the matter. Records dug up by the Ministry of External Affairs have revealed that the US had refused the extradition request in the past for want of evidence which proves his personal culpability in the Bhopal gas leak disaster. Sources said that the government will chart the next course of action based on the Attorney General and the Law Ministrys opinion.

In Washington,the US State Department spokesperson,P J Crowley said on Saturday,We have an extradition treaty with India. And if India makes an extradition request to us,we will give it fair consideration. He said that the US would carefully evaluate such a request.

According to records available with South Block,Washington had,between 2003 and 2008,informed Delhi that Indias extradition request did not conclusively establish that Andersons personal negligence caused the accident which killed nearly 25,000 people. Indias extradition request was based on the evidence that held Anderson responsible for the disaster because he headed the company whose Indian arm had caused the accident.

Sources said that the mere fact of him heading the company was not enough to process extradition requirements. The extradition was based on the India-US extradition treaty signed in 1999.

Sources told The Sunday Express that MEA had asked US at least three times between 2003 and 2008 for Andersons extradition on the basis of the same body of evidence. The US rejected the extradition request every time,but the investigating agencies did not provide any additional information, top sources told The Sunday Express. Then Attorney General,Soli Sorabjee had also conceded that there were evidentiary gaps and the extradition request needed to be strengthened with more evidence.

Armed with the Attorney Generals opinion,the Ministry of External Affairs had written to the Central Bureau of Investigation Indias ambassador to US Ronen Sen wrote to then CBI director to provide more evidence in a bid to pursue the extradition request.