Pilot on how Anderson flew out: Complete interview

Bhopal: Bhopal was choking on the deadly fumes that had found their way across the city from the Union Carbide Plant four days ago. Close to 4,000 people were dead already.

On December 7, 1984, Captain SH Ali was asked to report for duty. His passenger, though Ali was not told this, was Warren Anderson, the American Chief Executive Officer of Union Carbide Corporation.

Anderson had landed in Bhopal a few hours earlier, and had been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Then Chief Minister, Arjun Singh, allowed Anderson to exit Bhopal in his official plane. Singh has not explained why.

After leaving Bhopal, Anderson stopped in Delhi, met President Giani Zail Singh and then left for America. Since then, the government claims, it has tried zealously to get Anderson extradited to India, though court and other records do bolster this claim.

Here is how Ali describes that flight out of Bhopal, and Anderson's behavior on the plane that transported him away from what was emerging already as the world's worst industrial disaster

Advertisement

Ali: We got information from our Director, Captain R S Sodhi, for a flight from Bhopal to Delhi... and I planned it. We generally reach the airport one hour before the flight... we waited for Anderson and he came with Superintendent of Police and (with the) Collector, Bhopal. He got down from a car and we asked him to get in the aircraft... he boarded the aeroplane and I closed the door. We took off, and we completed the flight in 1 hour 35 minutes for Delhi. Before landing, we asked the Airport Manager to send the car for the VIP - generally, this happened every time - when we landed in Delhi, we asked for a car from the Airport Manager and the Ambassador car came next to the aircraft.  I took him in the car and dropped him outside the Airport Manager's room and there was one car waiting for him. That person came and asked him to board the car and he left... and I don't know where he left."

NDTV: Can you explain who ordered you to do all this?

Advertisement

Ali: This came from our captain, R S Sodhi. He was our Director - he gets the information from the Chief Minister (CM) or CM's staff  or Secretary to the CM. They pass the order to the Director and the Director passes them to the pilots... or he himself flies."

NDTV: Who were the persons in that flight?

Advertisement

Ali: He was all alone, no one was with him.

NDTV: Who all were there in Delhi (to receive him at the airport)?

Advertisement

Ali: There was only one person, that's all... outside the airport.

NDTV: What state did Anderson appear to be in?

Advertisement

Ali: He was looking tired and upset... we did not know who is this person when he came to the airport. We came to know that he is Anderson  - it was all secret.