During the NDA government, the then law minister Arun Jaitley had opined that the case seeking extradition of Warren Anderson is “weak” on the ground of lack of evidence against him regarding leakage of poisonous gas which killed thousands of people. “There is no evidence that Anderson had knowledge of design defects and
violations of safety requirements, and yet he failed to proper remedial measures,” Mr Jaitley had stated in his note to the Union government. Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia, in a press release attached with Mr Jaitley’s one page note on the issue, alleged that the BJP is today shedding crocodiles’ tears on the Anderson issue but the NDA’s law minister had given clean chit to Anderson.
He added, “His knowledge is being presumed in view of his position as being the chairman of the parent company. There is no evidence either to show that the parent company exercised control over day to day operation and running of the plant.”
Jaitley concluded that the case was weak. “In view of the above, our extradition case appears to be weak. However, it will be a matter of policy to go ahead with the extradition request despite these shortcomings,” he concluded.