President APJ Abdul Kalam has rejected the plea for the pardon of British arms dealer and one of the prime accused in the Purulia arms drop case Peter Bleach.
This is the second time that Bleach, who is serving a life sentence in a Kolkata prison, has lost an appeal for Presidential pardon.
He was arrested in 1995 with five Russian crew members and a consignment of arms. The group was eventually found guilty of charges involving parachuting crates of assault rifles, anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers and ammunition near the town of Purulia in West Bengal.
The Russian air crew received a Presidential pardon in 2000 after Moscow pleaded that there was little evidence against them and the sentences were too harsh.
The United Kingdom government had
made a request for the release of Bleach on similar grounds.