New Delhi, Jun 10 (UNI) Claims that Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson had flown in and out of Bhopal in a state government plane was today strengthened by the aircraft's pilot.
''We got flight information from the then Director of Aviation R S Sodhi for a flight from Bhopal to Delhi and were told to keep the aircraft, a state government plane, ready,'' Captain Syed Hasan Ali claimed.
He added that Anderson's identity was kept a secret from him. ''We did not know who he was,'' he said.
Capt Ali further claimed that Anderson was alone in the aircraft and looked upset and tired.
''As we waited for him, he came with the then SP and the District Magistrate of Bhopal. When we landed in Delhi, an ambassador picked him up from next to the plane and I left him with the airport manager,'' he claimed.
Capt Sodhi, seconding the pilot's claims, said it was on orders of Arjun Singh government that Anderson was allowed to fly.
''I had received a call from the office of the then Chief Minister, Arjun Singh, ordering to arrange Anderson's departure on December 7, 1984,'' Captain R S Sodhi claimed in an interview to a news channel today.
He alleged Anderson, a few hours after he came to know about his charges with culpable homicide, reached the airport where the Chief Minister's official plane stood waiting for him, along with senior bureaucrats and police officers.
The city's Superintendent of Police and the district magistrate, Moti Singh, waved to Anderson as he boarded Singh's plane, he said.
Earlier, Moti Singh had also alleged that the then Chief Secretary of the state had called him to his room and told him to arrange for the flight of Anderson out of Bhopal.
''The then chairman Keshub Mahindra and UCIL's then managing director Vijay Gokhale after landing in Bhopal were taken into custody at the airport itself but soon after that, he and the district police chief were told by the Chief Secretary to get the
US citizen released on bail and send him to Delhi by plane,'' he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment