Purulia arms drop accused wants next govt to tell all

On 17 December, 1995, a huge consignment of illegal arms including hundreds of AK-47 rifles, pistols, anti-tank grenades, rocket launchers and over 25,000 rounds of ammunition, were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in remote Purulia district in West Bengal. The key accused Davy claims that it was a conspiracy of the Congress government along with the RAW and MI5 to overthrow the communist government in Bengal. The crew of the aircraft consisted of five Latvian citizens and Peter Bleach, a British citizen, was arrested but released in 2004 after he was given pardon by the President. Davy also claimed that he was given assurances by the Indian government about his safety and return to Denmark. He alleged that then MP Pappu Yadav, who was in touch with prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, promised him safe exit from India.

When asked to comment on the current status of his case, Davy said, ‘I am following the developments (election) very closely and I won’t come out with all answers today. All I want from the new government is to reveal all papers relating to the case, which was never made public by the Indian government.’

‘The Indian public should know what happened and how it happened and who are the people behind it?’ Davy said, while inquiring who will form the next government in India.

There are many theories behind the mysterious Purulia arms dropping case. Some claims that it was meant for Ananda Marga, a religious group, to oust the Communist government in West Bengal, while some claim it was meant for the Bangladesh Army, when Begum Khaleda Zia was the Prime Minister.

Davy claimed that there was a big conspiracy behind the incident and it is high time people gets to know the reality. ‘I request the new government to come clean on the matter,’ Davy appealed. In 1995, the cargo plane (Antonov An-26 aircraft) took off from Gatwick Airport in London with four tons of weapons undetected. They had almost crash landed at Isfahan in Iran and then flew to Karachi in Pakistan – unchallenged for few days in the tarmac. Then they flew to Varanasi, where they refueled the aircraft and then flew over to Purulia, where they air-dropped the consignment and left for Phuket in Bangkok. Mysteriously, Davy’s return route was via India but after a few days when it entered the Indian airspace, his aircraft was forced to land in Mumbai by the Indian Air Force.

Bleach and the five other Lativian crew members were arrested but Davy escaped from the Mumbai runway. All of them were sentenced to life imprisonment but were released in 2004 allegedly under the pressure from the Russian and British governments. Meanwhile in 2001, Davy was traced to Denmark and since then Indian agencies are trying to get him back.