Singapore ship’s captain remanded to custody

Gordon Charles Pereira, captain of M V Prabhu Dayal that collided with a fishing boat off Kerala coast killing five Indian fishermen on March 1 was on Wednesday remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Pereira who was arrested from Chennai on Tuesday was produced before the Ambalappuzha Judicial Magistrate Court in Aleppey district. A case of attempt to murder  was registered by the police against the ship captain and some crew for allegedly pushing Prasobh Sugathan, a Malayalee second officer, out of the ship. Prasobh, who is the first accused in the collision case was in charge of the merchant vessel at the time of the accident. Police said that an attempt was made on the life of Prasobh on the night of March 3. Citing a complaint by Sugadhan’s father, the police said Prasobh was assaulted “by an unknown person and was thrown into the sea near the Sri Lankan coast”. Tolani Shipping Company, which owned the ship, has denied the allegation. A company statement said that the allegation was completely contrary to the signed sworn statement Prasobh gave to the Sri Lankan police. However, the statement said that the company will take the allegations very seriously and conduct a full internal enquiry. The statement pointed out the company had ordered the vessel to return to Chennai as they had nothing to hide. “Though the vessel was flying a Singapore flag and was “well outside Indian waters when it was summoned by the Indian authorities we asked the crew take the vessel to Chennai and fully cooperate with the Indian authorities”, the statement added. Prasobh, who is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital near Colombo after he was rescued by Sri Lankan Navy from the sea, will be brought to the state for facing trial after his condition improves. With the arrest of Pereira, the number of persons arrested by the Kerala police in connection with the mishap has risen to two. Virendra Kumar Chauhan, another person accused in the hit-and-run case, was arrested on March 8 and detained in judicial custody. Prabhu Dayal has been detained at Chennai. The court ordered the detention on a civil suit filed by owner of the fishing vessel ‘Don-I’, which sunk after the March 1 ‘collision, seeking a relief of Rs.1 million.