A special police team investigating the Tanur boat tragedy arrested two senior port officials on Tuesday for serious lapses in the discharge of their duty.
V.V. Prasad, senior port conservator in charge of the Beypore port, and Sebastian Joseph, chief surveyor at the Alappuzha port, were arrested by the police team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police V.V. Benny. Murder charges under Indian Penal Code Section 302 were slapped on them.
Fishing boat
Prasad and Sebastian had reportedly visited the illegal yard at Ponnani while the boat was being built there in November 2022. The owner, Nasar P. Tanur, had converted a fishing boat into a tourist boat at the yard by flouting safety norms.
According to the police, both the port officials were involved in a criminal conspiracy by deliberately ignoring the safety norms either under pressure or enticement, ultimately leading to a tragedy that claimed 22 lives on May 7.
Criminal silence
Prasad knew the illegal aspects of the boat’s conversion, yet he did not mention anything of it in his report. Keeping silent about the illegal construction, he filed a report recommending the boat for tourist service. “He maintained a criminal silence about an unauthorised venture; therefore he is answerable for the loss of 22 lives,” said a senior police officer.
Sebastian too played an equally incriminating role by turning a blind eye to the violations of norms during his examination of the boat. The original drawing of the boat submitted by the owner had no upper deck. However, when Sebastian examined the boat, the vessel had an illegally constructed upper deck with a ladder to climb on to it. But in his survey report, Sebastian did not mention that the boat had an upper deck. He reportedly lied by saying that the boat had no upper deck.
However, the police confronted him with the photographs taken during his field visit in which he was seen examining the boat that had an upper deck. “He did not mention the violations in his survey report with mala fide intentions,” said the police officer requesting anonymity.
The police said both of the arrested helped the boat owner to conduct the service by flouting norms. However, the police were tight-lipped whether they had turned a Nelson’s eye at the behest of anyone else.
12 held so far
The police team investigating the boat tragedy has so far arrested 12 people, including the boat owner. Three persons were arrested for harbouring the boat owner.
Twenty-two persons, including 15 children, drowned and a dozen others injured when the overcrowded tourist boat, Atlantic, capsized in the Poorapuzha estuary off Thoovaltheeram, near Tanur, on May 7. The tragedy occurred around 7 p.m. It was suspected that the boat capsized while taking a sharp turn in the middle of the river with some passengers on the upper deck.
