Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee on Friday demanded a judicial inquiry by the Centre
into the "political conspiracy" behind the arms drop from a
foreign plane in Purulia 16 years ago.
"A political conspiracy has been exposed in the media
behind the arms drop 16 years ago. And in this context and in
the interest of internal security and the gravity of the
incident therein, I demand a judicial probe," the chief
minister said in a statement here.
Recalling the dropping of a huge cache of arms from a
plane "meant for the Anandmargis" in Purulia at midnight on
December 17, 1995, the chief minister said, "An alert message
from the Union home ministry reached the state home department
a few days after the incident.
"The Central alert of December 12 was dispatched to
Kolkata from Delhi by ordinary mail in a very casual manner.
No advance wireless message was sent to the state on an urgent
basis considering the gravity of the situation. The mail
reached after the armsdrop in Purulia."
Bhattacharjee, who holds home (police) portfolio, said
the state government handed over responsibility of the inquiry
to the CBI considering the gravity of the incident.
"All seized sophisticated arms were handed over to the
CBI by the state police. All the seized arms since the days of
inquiry were in the custody of the CBI," he added.
PTI
