Ship captain sent to jail, fisherman kin seek Rs 2 crore relief

The arrested Captain of Singapore flagged merchant vessel 'Prabhu Daya', suspected to have collided with a boat off Kerala resulting in the death of five fishermen, was today remanded to 14 days judicial custody by a court.

Gordon Charless Pereira, arrested by Kerala police from the vessel in Chennai yesterday, was brought to the state and produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate's court in Ambalapzuha near Alapuzha which remanded him to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the relatives of one of the five deceased fishermen today approached the Kerala High Court seeking Rs two crore compensation from the ship's owner.

In a petition, the wife, mother and three other relatives of Xavier Antony sought a direction to the Kerala police to seize the vessel currently anchored at the outer anchorage of Chennai port.

The accused, including the Captain of the vessel, were liable for the accident as it was caused due to negligence, the petition charged.

The Captain's counsel made a plea before the court seeking to give him special consideration under custody. The court would hear the plea on Friday.

In another development, Mayur Virendrakumar, the seaman attached to the vessel, who was directing it when the collision had taken place on March 1, was sent to police custody for four days by the court here yesterday.

Virendrakumar, the second accused in the case, was arrested from the ship in Chennai on March 9 and has been remanded. The first accused and the second officer of the vessel, Prasobh Sugathan, who is now under treatment in Sri Lanka, would be brought here soon, police sources said.