Arjun ordered release at Rajiv?s behest, confirms crisis officer

Filling in some crucial blanks in the Warren Anderson affair, the only surviving secretary-level officer from those present at the Madhya Pradesh chief secretary?s all-critical meeting on December 7, 1984, on Thursday confirmed that the orders did come from then chief minister Arjun Singh, but added that he was acting at the behest of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. RC Jain, who was agriculture secretary in the MP government at the time of the gas leak incident, disclosed this while sharing his account for the first time after the controversy erupted afresh following the verdict.

?Although Arjun Singh had given directions to the chief secretary, he was acting under the directions of Rajiv Gandhi who, in turn, was under pressure from the highest levels in the US government,? Jain said.

Jain was part of the core group formed immediately after the tragedy which met each morning at 10 am in then chief secretary Brahma Swaroop?s office. Others in the group included additional shief secretary MS Singh Deo and environment secretary A N Verma.

Within half-an-hour of the start of the meeting on December 7, 1984, Jain recalls that Bhopal District Magistrate Moti Singh and SP Swaraj Puri rushed in to inform that they had arrested Anderson who had arrived by an Indian Airlines flight in the morning. The two also said they had informed Arjun Singh who had left for a political rally somewhere in western MP.

When contacted, Moti Singh claimed that the instructions for the arrest had also come from the CM. But this was not known to Swaroop, who heard about it for the first time on December 7 morning in the presence of his three senior colleagues.

According to Jain, Swaroop asked the DM and SP to continue with the requisite legal proceedings after Puri said that Anderson had been lodged in a Union Carbide guest house on Shyamla Hills. After an hour, as the core committee continued with its meeting, Arjun Singh called up Swaroop from the place he was holding a rally. According to what Swaroop shared with his colleagues later, Rajiv Gandhi was also present at that rally.

But at that time, the CM told Swaroop that while the arrest showed good initiative, Anderson had to be released at the earliest. Swaroop conveyed it was impossible to do so but, as he told his colleagues later, the CM?s orders were to ?find a way to do so?. Again, the DM and the SP were called to the meeting and were asked to find a way to release Anderson. They first expressed inability to do so and, therefore, the Law Secretary was called in. He too argued that this was not possible after the police had pressed charges against Anderson.

Around 1 pm, Arjun Singh again called up the chief secretary for an update. And here again, according to what Swaroop shared with his colleagues soon after the conversation, the CM was insistent and said he had to give a ?compliance report to Rajiv Gandhi?. Later, Swaroop informed the core group members that Singh had even told him to arrange for a state government plane to transport him to Delhi upon release.

At that stage, the SP took the DM away and both discussed the matter. They returned and informed the group that they had found a way to carry out Singh?s orders. Thereafter, the orders were carried out.