With the Centre deciding to make a fresh attempt for extradition of Warren Anderson in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy, the CBI is now preparing to file a separate chargesheet against the former CEO of the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).
Sources in the CBI said that once Anderson was extradited to India, the agency would file fresh charges against him. The trial of the criminal case against accused No. 1 (Anderson) in the Bhopal gas tragedy case had been segregated and split up from the case of other remaining accused in the case by the sessions court on April 30, 1992, sources added.
Sources further said, criminal case against Warren Anderson and Union Carbide (Eastern) based in Hong Kong, had to be segregated in view of the sessions court at Bhopal declaring Anderson as “absconder”. “Now the agency can easily frame fresh charges against Anderson after his extradition,” the sources said.
The CBI had filed its chargesheet against the accused persons in the Bhopal gas tragedy on December 1, 1987.
The investigation included painstaking efforts by the CBI to get evidence from abroad, USA, as well as extradition of Anderson, sources said, adding that the court had taken cognisance on July 6, 1988 and Anderson was declared as an absconder.
The agency is also hopeful that Central Bureau of Investigation may probe further that how certain tanks installed at the Union Carbide of Indian Ltd (UCIL) plant were allowed to store poisonous gases beyond their capacity.