Anderson Was Freed To Control Law And Order Situation: Pranab

New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson was let off by the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh, to control the deteriorating law and order situation in Bhopal.

"It is clear in Arjun Singh's statement, which he had made then that law and order situation was deteriorating. People frenzy was on high, therefore it was thought necessary to move out Warren Anderson," Mukherjee said.

The move is being seen as an attempt to save Arjun Singh, who has been recently facing huge criticism over escape of the main accused Anderson after the 1984 Bhopal gas leak.

The former aviation director of Madhya Pradesh had earlier said that Union Carbide's CEO Warren Andersen's escape was state-managed.

RS Sondhi had said, "We had got clear instructions from the office of then Chief Minister Arjun Singh, who wanted Andersen to be flown out of Bhopal."

"I gave instructions in this regard after getting clearance from the office of Chief Minister Arjun Singh," Sondhi added.

He had further claimed that top officials of the then MP government made all necessary arrangements so that Andersen could be flown out in the shortest possible time.

Moti Singh, who was the district collector of Bhopal at the time of gas leak, has also said that Anderson was arrested at around 2 pm on December 07 but he was released on the same day and flew to New Delhi in a state government plane.

Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday had said the Government of India is trying to extradite Anderson, the prime accused in the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, from the United States.

“We are trying to extradite Anderson,” said Mukherjee responding to the queries of the media persons.

A District Magistrate’s Court in Bhopal had on June 07 convicted all eight accused on grounds of negligence under Section 304 (a) for the tragedy.

The court also granted bail to seven of the eight accused and released them on submission of a bond and a surety of Rs 25,000 each.

The eight accused are Keshub Mahendra, Vijay Gokhle, Kishore Kamdar, J Mukund, SP Choudhary, KV Shetty and SI Qureshi and RB Roy Choudhary.

Out of the accused RB Roy Choudhary, then former assistant works manager, Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL), Mumbai, died during the trial.

Anderson, the chairman of Union Carbide Worldwide, has been designated an absconder.