Extradition of Danish national Niels Holck or Kim Peter Davy, prime accused in the nearly-three-decade-old Purulia arms drop case, is not a “political topic” but has to be dealt with “among the proper authorities”, visiting Denmark Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Tuesday.

Davy had publicly accepted that he was behind the air-drop of AK-47s and ammunition but stated that “political forces” were behind the conspiracy to destabilise the then Left government in West Bengal, which was promptly dismissed by the CBI on the grounds that evidence did not back that claim.

‘Not political’

The Denmark minister’s statement during his ongoing visit to the national capital, therefore, marks a shift in his country’s outlook towards one of the most serious global conspiracies to destabilise the country. The minister stated that during his previous visit in 2019 in the capacity as Denmark Prime Minister, the two sides had agreed that its not a political topic after a detailed discussion on the Davy’s extradition issue. “When I visited India back in 2019, in my previous capacity as PM, we talked about it. We had in-depth discussion at the political level and we agreed this is not a political topic,” Denmark Foreign Affairs Minister said to a query on Davy’s extradition.

“It’s something which should be dealt with among the proper authorities and what I am informed about that is that this is a work in progress”, Rasmussen stated perhaps hinting that it Denmark allow the law to take its own course.

India has had a frustrating run to get Davy, accused of dropping arms from AN-32 aircraft at Purulia district in West Bengal, since the Central Bureau of Investigation got a Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued by the Interpol against him in 1996. Way back in 2012, India had scaled down its diplomatic engagement with Denmark after it refused to appeal in its Supreme Court against a subordinate court’s ruling against his extradition. The cordial relations between the two countries were restored only in 2017 after a Danish minister came to India.

A Danish team had visited Kolkata, last February, to take feedback on the arms drop court trial and the prison infrastructure. The Denmark officials reportedly enquired about jail conditions to give a report to their government given that Davy has been able to stall his extradition in courts there on a plea that his human rights would be violated due to Indian prison conditions — a plea other criminals on the run and hiding in western countries have also adopted.

Co-accused Peter Bleach, a British national who was convicted in the case, had stated that it was an operation of India’s external spy agency, Research And Analysis Wing (R&AW), to destabilise the Left regime in West Bengal

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