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Seized 'spy' plane brings memories of Purulia

Arup Chanda in Calcutta

As scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation examine the two-seater American aircraft detained at the Ahmedabad airport, central intelligence agencies have been probing the case in Calcutta.

The aircraft, which was headed for Karachi, had refuelled at the Dumdum airport in Calcutta with the director general of civil aviation's permission. The plane, however, did not possess permission to land in Ahmedabad.

The manner in which the aircraft, fitted with a camera, flew at a low level not only drew the attention of the intelligence sleuths but revived memories of the Purulia arms drop case in December, 1995.

The Russian-made AN-26 transport plane, which had allegedly dropped the cache of arms in Purulia, had taken off from Varanasi. After completing its mission, it landed at Calcutta for refuelling.

It then took off for Phuket in Thailand and then mysteriously came back to India.

Peter Bleach and Kim Davy were on board. While Bleach along with the six Latvian crew members were arrested, Davy gave the police and intelligence sleuths a slip and was never to be seen again.

Many intelligence officials are still puzzled as to how Davy could flee when the plane was forced to land in Bombay and why it was not searched when it was in Varanasi for three days and loaded with such a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

Like this American plane which was bound for Karachi, Davy's plane had come from Karachi. It is also surprising that, while Pakistani nationals are kept under close scrutiny, a plane which came from Karachi was allowed to go without any checks.

Intelligence sleuths feel the case of the seized American plane should be investigated by the Aviation Research Centre, the aviation wing of the Research and Analysis Wing. If it is given to the Central Bureau of Investigation, it would meet the same fate as of the Purulia arms drop case.

What exactly happened with the Purulia arms drop case?

The special crime branch of the CBI in Calcutta has been handling the case for the last four years. To date it has produced only tons of classified documents but not results.

Its ineptitude has fuelled suspicion of New Delhi's own hand in dropping hundreds of AK-47 rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, rocket launchers and anti-tank grenades by parachutes over a village in Purulia district of West Bengal.

Peter Bleach and the six Latvian crew members still languish in jail without a trial for the last four years for their alleged role in the arms drop. But it has failed to tell the whole story or achieved any significant breakthrough.

Eight of the 19 persons who figure in the CBI's chargesheet are still at large. In all these years the CBI has gathered little legally tenable evidence reducing the probe to a farce.

According to a leading lawyer at the Calcutta high court and former secretary of the Bar Association in Calcutta, Arunabha Ghosh, "Continuous detention of a British national and the six Latvian crew is in gross violation of Article 21 of the Constitution which gives people the right to personal liberty and not to live in detention without trial."

The CBI claims to have sent 'red corner' notices to various countries for the arrest of the missing accused. But security officials say much of it "is based on speculation and conjecture liable to be rejected by the police and jurists in other countries".

They said too many questions still remain unanswered.

The CBI claims the arms drop was planned by Davy, variously described as a New Zealander, an Englishman or an American working for the CIA and representative of the Ananda Marg, allegedly in connivance with P Hastrap and H M Mac following a meeting held in Phelix Hotel in Hong Kong on or around September 22, 1995.

Hastrap and Mac are Hong Kong-based businessmen and the CBI has admitted that its efforts to extradite them has failed.

The CBI initially claimed all the arms were not meant for the Ananda Marg. Its officials were arrested, offices raided and the cult maligned by the CBI.

Now the CBI says, "The Marg wanted a small part of the consignment. Margis were acting as carriers only to raise funds."

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was suspected to be the end user as Purulia was close to the Orissa coastline and an LTTE vessel was sighted after a few days of the arms drop.

Surprisingly, during the Interpol general assembly meeting in Delhi in October 1997, the CBI did not even raise the Purulia arms drop case and the organisation has been accused of deliberately delaying the start of the trial as the case was weak.

However, in the case of the American plane fitted with a camera, intelligence officials believe that if the ISRO scientists confirm that it had taken photographs while flying low to avoid detection by radar, the two crew members should be charged with spying within the Indian territory.

But then, the case should be handled by specialists at the Aviation Research Centre.

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