The hopes of bringing to India the mastermind behind the dropping of hundreds of AK-47 rifles, anti-tank grenades, rocket launchers and over 25,000 rounds of ammunition over fields in West Bengal’s Purulia district have been dashed.
India had filed a petition in the Danish court to prosecute the mastermind of the 29-year-old Purulia incident, but the court rejected this request.
Danish court rejected India’s request for extradition of Niels Holck, accused of arms smuggling.
This court order is against Denmark’s top prosecution authority which had given the green signal to send Niels abroad.
Holck had confessed to dropping a cache of arms and ammunition from a cargo plane in Purulia, West Bengal in 1995. Niels was involved in dropping assault rifles, rocket launchers and missiles.
The Hillerød District Court said that despite “additional diplomatic guarantees” provided by India, there was “a risk” that Holck would face torture or other inhuman treatment in India.
Holck (62) said he feared his life would be in danger if he was extradited. “I would like to be held accountable before the judge because I believe this is a justifiable emergency,” Holck told Danish radio DR on Thursday morning before the verdict was announced.
What is Purulia incident?
The Purulia arms dropping incident took place on 17 December 1995. Purulia is a district in West Bengal. The accused had dropped a cache of arms and ammunition from an Antonov AN-26 aircraft in Jaupur village of Purulia district.
It is noteworthy that after the weapons were dropped, a British citizen and five Latvians were arrested by Indian authorities, but Holk fled the country.
Extradition efforts have been ongoing since 2002
India had first asked Denmark for Holck’s extradition in 2002. The government had agreed, but two Danish courts had rejected his extradition, saying he would be at risk of torture or other inhumane treatment in India.
This strained diplomatic relations between the two countries. In June 2023, Denmark again looked into India’s extradition request of 2016 and said that the requirements of the Extradition Act had been met.
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