New Delhi, April 12: India may get Kim Peter Davy, alleged mastermind of the 1995 Purulia arms-drop, but will not be able to keep him behind bars, Danish media reports say.

Davy, 49, whom Copenhagen has agreed to extradite, will be tried in India but will return to Denmark within three weeks of conviction to serve out his term in a Danish jail, the online edition of The Copenhagen Post said.

The Post, Denmark’s leading English-language weekly, claimed that under an agreement between New Delhi and Copenhagen, Davy would serve whatever jail sentence he is awarded by an Indian court.

Davy alias Niels Christian Nielsen alias Niels Holck has been a fugitive from Indian law ever since he and his associates dropped a cache of weapons, allegedly meant for the Ananda Marg sect, from a plane over Purulia in Bengal. Agency reports said he was arrested in Denmark on Friday.

A home ministry official declined comment on the Post report. He said: “The Danish government has approved our request to extradite Davy. The matter is now being dealt with at the diplomatic level. There are certain conditions that we need to meet. It is a legal process that can take time. Davy will be handed over to us once this process is over.”

A CBI spokesperson said: “No decision has yet been taken on how and when we will send a team to Denmark (to bring Davy to India). Things will become clearer in the coming days.”

If the Post is to be believed, the CBI may get Davy’s custody sooner than the home ministry expects. Its report quoted Danish justice ministry sources as saying Copenhagen had got a “guarantee” from New Delhi that “Holck will not be subject to the death penalty, will be returned to Denmark to serve his sentence within three weeks of judgment, will have access to Danish diplomats and family, will be treated in line with UN conventions and will have his case tried as quickly as possible”.

The report added that Davy’s “accomplice, Briton Peter Bleach, spent eight years in a Calcutta jail for his part in the operation. In an interview with Berlingske Tidende newspaper two years ago, Bleach fingered Holck as the main suspect. ‘In the Indians’ eyes I was a little fish. They view Niels Holck as the ringleader of the weapons drop,’ he said at the time.”

The Post added: “When arrested at his home in Hillerod (in Copenhagen) last week, he was found in possession of two false British passports. However, during the court hearing on Saturday, Holck was not remanded to custody, but had to surrender his own Danish passport until the extradition is completed. He will also have to report to police every second day.”

The Interpol had issued a red-corner notice on Davy at India’s request. While the others accused in the arms-drop were jailed, Davy continued to live in Denmark under several aliases. India requested Denmark to extradite him in 2004, prompting Copenhagen to demand certain assurances, such as waiver of the death penalty.