Kochi: The police custody of the two Italian marines who had allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen off Kochi coast has been extended till Monday. The Kollam magistrate has directed the Kochi Port Trust to bring the Enrica Lexie back to the harbour.
The police, meanwhile, want to search the vessel.
This comes a day after Italy's deputy foreign minister met Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and both sides stuck to their positions.
Meanwhile, pointing out that there were "serious defects" in the Italian government's plea seeking quashing of the FIR charging two of its marines with murder of two fishermen, the Kerala High Court on Thursday sternly told them that it would look into the petition only after they were "cured".
The Italian government should not have an impression that the Indian Judiciary was so loose that anyone could file a petition before courts, Justice P S Gopinathan said in the open court.
He directed the Consul General to produce necessary documentary evidence to show that the Consulate has the authorisation to represent Italian government in legal proceedings relating to the killing of two Indian fishermen by marines on board the cargo ship Enrica Lexie in mid-February.
Justice P S Gopinathan orally observed that there were 'serious defects' in the petition filed by the Consul General and the two accused marines seeking to quash the FIR in the case.
The judge even expressed doubt whether the signature of one of the accused affixed in the affidavit produced before the court was bogus.
Even though senior counsel for the petitioners repeatedly requested the court to look into the documents, the court refused and directed the petitioners to "cure" the defects.
Only after "curing" the defects, the documents would be looked into, the judge held. The case was posted for Friday.
(With Additional Inputs from PTI)
Comments
0 comment