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Counsel hopeful of Purulia case prime accused's release

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

R K Khanna, counsel for British national and prime accused in the Purulia arms drop case Peter Bleach, has expressed optimism about the quick release of his client.

This comes after President K R Narayanan commuted the life sentence of five Latvians, who were also accused in the case, following an appeal by the Russian Government, Saturday morning.

Alexandre Klichine, Oleg Gaidash, Igor Moskvitin, Igor Timmerman and Antimenko Eugueni were released at 1015 hours IST Saturday morning. The Latvians were then taken by a senior official from the Russian Consulate in a special car to the consulate's Alipore Park Road office.

Khanna told rediff.com, ''The Latvians have got their grievances redressed and are finally returning to their country. My client today stands on a different footing, primarily because the case against the co-accused does not exist anymore in this country."

Khanna, however, declined to term the release as a surrender to Russian pressure tactics. He felt that the Indian government had merely considered the Russian approach in its own way.

Consulate officials did not allow the Latvians to meet waiting mediapersons.

However, a consulate official told rediff.com that the release was a diplomatic move by the Indian government ahead of Russian President Vladmir Putin's visit to India in September. The official added that the Latvians, after bathing and having breakfast, were asked to rest for sometime.

Ever since a civil and sessions court here had sentenced them to rigorous life imprisonment on December 31, the Russian government has been exerting pressure on India to ensure their release.

The recent visits of Union ministers Jaswant Singh and George Fernandes to Russia apart, the Russian ambassador to India had warned that ''any injustice meted out to the Latvians would irritate diplomatic ties between the two countries.''

The ambassador had made this remark after meeting the Latvians in jail on April 14.

"God forbid, if any thing happens to the five Latvians. In new Russia, the life of every individual is very important to us and we will not allow anybody to play with our citizens' lives for no fault of theirs," he had also remarked.

The Latvians had filed a petition in the high court on February 15, challenging the lower court's judgement.

Consulate sources said that the decision was taken after the Union Home Ministry received 'favourable' feedback from the Law Ministry on the Latvians.

The Latvians' counsel in the Calcutta High Court, Srenik Singhvi, told rediff.com that he was extremely happy over the release. Singhvi said that he would meet them later in the day.

On whether the Latvians were being sent back as prisoners, he said, "Though I really have no knowledge on that, since I landed in Calcutta this morning, I presume they are finally being released and sent back home."

Meanwhile, Moscow warmly welcomed India's decision to release the five, Interfax news agency reported, quoting diplomatic sources.

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