Bhopal gas tragedy case: CBI arrests absconding convict from Nagpur

In a major breakthrough in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, the Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a former employee of Union Carbide Bhopal, who was absconding since 2016. S I Qureshi who was convicted by a local court in connection with the case was arrested from Maharashtra’s Nagpur.

New Delhi: The CBI has arrested an absconding convict in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy case from Nagpur in Maharashtra, the agency said on Wednesday.

S I Qureshi, an employee of Union Carbide who was convicted in the case by a Bhopal court in 2010, was nabbed on Tuesday and would soon be produced before a court, an agency spokesperson said.

"Aggrieved with the impugned order of the court, the convicted persons filed appeals in the sessions court, Bhopal. The CBI also filed an appeal against the order of CJM and requested for enhancement of sentence. The case presently is at argument on appeals stage," he said.

Qureshi absconded in 2016 while the appeal was still pending.

This led to the issuance of a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him by a court which was first given to the Madhya Pradesh Police for execution, the spokesperson said.

However, the state police could not execute it and hence, the CBI was requested to execute the NBW, he said.

The CBI probed the 1984 tragedy after the Madhya Pradesh government sought its probe in the case.

On June 7, 2010, a Bhopal court had sent seven executives of the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) to two years' imprisonment in connection with the incident.

Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) chairman Warren Anderson was the prime accused in the case, but did not appear for the trial.

On February 1, 1992, the Bhopal CJM court declared him an absconder.

Anderson died in September 2014.

PTI Report