The Central Bureau of Investigation, which came under attack from civil rights groups and political parties over its probe into the Bhopal gas tragedy, said it had made "painstaking efforts" in its investigation and pointed out that the charges against the accused were amended after a Supreme Court order.
"The investigation included painstaking efforts by CBI to get evidence from abroad (USA) as well as extradition of Warren Anderson (then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation)," CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal said in a statement in New Delhi. Nearly 26 years after the world's worst industrial disaster left over 15,000 dead, former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others were convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment each by a court.
Civil rights activists fighting for the families of victims of the disaster called the judgement "too little, too late" and accused
Bhal noted that non-bailable arrest warrants were issued by Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal and CBI moved an extradition request to the United States on September 8, 1993 for arrest and extradition of Anderson. "However, this request remains unexecuted," he said.
