How 1963 batch IFS MK Rasgotra coordinated from South Block in Warren Anderson’s exit saga

AN IFS officer of 1963 batch and India’s ex-foreign secretary MK Rasgotra coordinated with US embassy to ensure Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson’s safe exit from India just four days after the Bhopal disaster of 1984. “He (Anderson) was given safe passage. The arrest was a wrong thing to do and hence was released,” the man who coordinated the Anderson’s exit saga from New Delhi’s South Block, said in an interview with a private news channel CNN-IBN.

As babusofindia.com reported in its post on Raajneeti, (Read: Indian bureaucrats who reportedly figure in Anderson’s escape saga) then Bhopal collector Moti Singh and Bhopal SP Swaraj Puri helped bringing Anderson to the city airport before he allegedly took the chief minister’s aircraft to fly to New Delhi. Mr Puri, who later moved up the police ladder to become Madhya Pradesh DGP, allegedly drove the Ambassador car carrying Mr Anderson to the airport.

If events are reconstructed based on interviews of Gordon Streeb, then deputy chief of mission at the US embassy, to NDTV and Mr Rasgotra to CNN-IBN, Mr Anderson spent time in US embassy, and also went to South Block before he flew back to US.

In fact, then foreign secretary Mr Rasgotra took up the matter with the Union home ministry before he was allowed to leave for the US. “It was the home ministry’s concern... Rajiv Gandhi concurred with the decision of safe passage,” he said in an interview with Karan Thapar.

Had India not allowed Mr Anderson to move out of the country, it would have spoilt the Indo-US relations and also impacted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country, Mr Rasgotra said justifying the government’s decision to give Mr Anderson a safe passage.

Shortage of 1,155 IAS officers in India

As home minister P Chidambaram is still fighting a battle to hold special exam to recruit IPS which UPSC has reportedly raised objections, it has now been highlighted by a section of media that there has been a shortage of 1,155 IAS officers in the country which is much higher than that of IPS at 631.

Will Mr Chidambaram bat for IAS too, as he is convening a meeting on Friday to remove the bottlenecks of recruiting young police officers serving in state police and central police organizations as IPS officers.

Action and Appointments

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved extension in tenure of Ms Bhaswati Mukherjee, a 1976 batch IFS as Permanent Representative of India, UNESCO, Paris, only upto June 30, 2010 and she would stand relieved on that day(if not relieved earlier) to enable her successor VS Oberoi, a 1979 batch Assam cadre IAS to join the post within June, 2010.

Raajneeti: Indian bureaucrats who reportedly figure in Anderson’s great escape saga

Warren Anderson, Son of Sri John Martin Anderson, Former Chairman, Carbide Corporation, 39, Old Ridgebury Road, Danbury USA 06817 (Absconder) --- From Bhopal Gas Verdict.

AS then Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson’s great escape from India has raised several questions including a possible involvement of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, an interesting question is whether key bureaucrats of then Arjun Singh’s government in Madhya Pradesh or in PMO in New Delhi, took part in the script of the dramatic escape of the key accused of the world’s largest industrial disaster that took place in Bhopal in December 1984.

Here are the key bureaucrats who could have known the sequence of events leading to Mr Anderson fleeing the country on December 7, 1984.

PC Alexander: 1948 batch IAS officer who was the principal secretary to PM during the disaster. He served as principal secretary (1981-84) both to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Later, Mr Alexander became the governor of Maharashtra and was also a strong contender for the post of President of India during the NDA regime.

After the Bhopal verdict came, Mr Alexander hinted that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi might have a role in Mr Anderson’s release. Law minister M Veerappa Moily slammed Mr Alexander’s statement saying that he is a new convert to the BJP-Shiv Sena camp. Later, Mr Alexander denied his statement.

Moti Singh: He was the Bhopal collector during the disaster. He is not talking too much to the media after the court verdict, but he cannot back-track his earlier position after writing two books on the disaster and appearing in TV interviews, saying how he acted on his senior’s request to release Warren Anderson. His book, ‘Bhopal Gas Trasadi Ka Sach’ has all details of Mr Anderson’s great escape.

Swaraj Puri: Then Bhopal Superintendent of Police who allegedly drove the Ambassador car carrying Mr Anderson to the airport before he could take a special flight to New Delhi. Later in a BBC interview, he wished Anderson had lived in Bhopal at the time and had “been through what we’ve been through, seen what we’ve seen and suffered what we did”. Mr Puri, who was born on the Independence Day of India, 15th August 1947 later rose to become Director General of Police of Madhya Pradesh. He received a medal for gallantry by the President of India for his contribution during the world’s largest chemical disaster of December 1984.

Brahm Swarup: Then chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh who reported carried out the order of Arjun Singh. Then Bhopal collector Moti Singh told an Indian TV channel NDTV: “The chief secretary at that time called me to the room and told me to arrange for the departure of Warren Anderson.”

RC Jain: Then agriculture secretary was the first bureaucrat who told investigators of the Bhopal gas leakage case that then chief minister Arjun Singh had issued orders to make arrangements for Warren Anderson to escape the scene in a state government airplane. Mr Jain had claimed that he was with then chief secretary Brahma Swaroop when CM called Mr Swaroop to organise an early release of Mr Anderson. Arjun Singh reportedly told Mr Swaroop that Rajiv Gandhi was under pressure from the then US president Ronald Reagan.
(Disclaimer: The Raajneeti photograph is symbolic)