Arjun Singh silent on Anderson-related allegations

NEW DELHI - Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh has maintained a studied silence over allegations that he got former Union Carbide Corp chairman Warren Anderson released after his arrest for the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Arjun Singh has not said a word to journalists who have been flocking to his residence here for the past two days.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in an indirect reference to him, has alleged that Arjun Singh, then the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, had facilitated Anderson’s release from the law enforcing agencies and provided him a state aircraft to go to Delhi from Bhopal.

Singh, who is working on his autobiography, has not broken his silence on issues related to the gas tragedy since a Bhopal court June 7 convicted seven accused in the gas leak case. However, they were sentenced to a mere two years in jail and were immediately granted bail.

Anderson, a proclaimed offender in India in the 1984 chemical disaster that killed an estimated 25,000 people, is currently in the US.

When contacted, Singh’s office told IANS that the he is not speaking to the media.

Television crews gathered outside his residence at 17 Akbar Road in central Delhi and have been hoping for the past two days that he will speak to them on the issue.

The then collector of Bhopal, Moti Singh, has made it clear that Anderson was released on a surety bond of Rs.25,000 within two hours of his arrest on the orders of the then chief secretary, Brahamswarup.

On Dec 2-3 1984, poisonous methyl-iso-cyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in the night killing thousands immediately and many more over the years and maiming several others.