Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 28, 1992 TAG: 9203280045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BHOPAL, INDIA LENGTH: Medium
The extradition order for Warren Anderson, 70, was issued by India's chief judicial magistrate, Gulab Sharma. The request must be approved by India's government before being forwarded to the United States. Sharma also issued an arrest warrant for Anderson, who was chief executive of Union Carbide Corp. at the time of the gas leak.
Union Carbide responded that Anderson had nothing to do with the operation of its Indian subsidiary in Bhopal, which it said is 49.1 percent Indian-owned.
"Anderson's only connection was after the tragedy when he attempted to bring aid and relief to the victims in Bhopal," the company said in a statement from its Danbury, Conn., headquarters.
"Any attempt to extradite the former chairman of the company to India would be disgraceful."
At least 4,037 people have died from inhaling the poisonous methyl isocyanate gas released from the Bhopal pesticide plant, according to Madhya Pradesh state's minister for gas relief, Babu Lal Gaur. About 1,500 deaths occurred within three days, the rest in years since.
India's magistrates court earlier this year charged Anderson with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder," the equivalent of manslaughter, and ordered him to appear Feb. 1. He did not.
A State Department official said Friday that the United States and India have an extradition treaty, but it is unclear whether it could be applied in the Union Carbide case.
by CNB