Fishing vessel missing case: Indian Navy kept state fact-finding committee in dark

KARWAR: Fact Finding Committee, that formed by the state government to investigate the missing Suvarna Tribhuja fishing vessel which went missing with seven crews, kept in dark by the Indian Navy and suspicion grows against the navy.

Recently the Indian Navy has found the wreckage of Suvarna Tribhuja boat in 60 feet deep sea off Malvan coast. It was not officially informed to the state government’s Fact Finding Committee and the committee has come to know about the found wreckage through media not by the navy.

In the month of February, the state government had advised the state police department to form a fact-finding committee to investigate the missing vessel. DIG S N Sidramappa, who is head of the committee visited Udupi and Uttara Kannada district with his team. He also visited INS Kadamba Naval Base, Karwar to figure out the missing boat case.

Later the committee asked the navy about the damaged INS Kochi ship and the committee had written two letters to navy. But till date they have not got any reply from the navy. When the navy found wreckage of Suvarna Tribhuja on May 1, it has not informed the committee.

DIG S N Sidramappa, who heads the committee said, he came to know about the found wreckage in media. The committee was not informed by navy in this regard and during the search there were no police officials in INS Nireekshak. However he will write another letter to the navy to get details of their investigation.

The navy has completed neglected the state government committee and it is not ready to respond to any queries. After finding wreckage of missing Suvarna Tribhuja, the navy allegedly stopped search operation.

According to sources in navy, INS Kochi damaged off Malvan coast after it was hit by some unknown object. They are not ready to accept or reject ‘INS Kochi hit Suvarna Tribhuja’, they have maintained silence over the issue. But coastal district many theories are plying.