CBI takes over investigation in case of missing sailor from Kerala
The federal agency has taken over the investigation on the orders of the Kerala High Court, which was hearing a plea moved by the sailor's father, Yesudasan.
Abhinandh (21) from Kollam in Kerala was working in Aries Marines LLC, a Sharjah-based company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
During the course of his employment, he went missing from the ship on its voyage from Egypt to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 21, 2017.
His father had submitted in the complaint to the state police that Abhinandh contacted the family several times over the phone from Egypt and Turkiye and sounded very happy.
On March 17, 2017, he told the family members that other co-workers were torturing him due to his lack of work experience, his father had alleged.
Abhinandh told the family that his supervisor was torturing him brutally and that was the last communication received from him, his father said in the complaint.
Abhinandh cut the phone call by saying that it was the time for passport verification, his father said.
In its submissions to the high court, the Kerala Police explained its limitation in conducting an exhaustive probe, citing a Supreme Court judgment in the case of Italian marines that had said the state police had no territorial jurisdiction to investigate an offence that happened beyond 12 nautical miles from land area.
It said since Abhinandh had gone missing from the ship, which was under the Bahamas' flag in international waters, the offence, if any, committed by anyone on the vessel has to be dealt only under Bahamas Law.
'And since the Union of India does not have any MLAT with Bahamas, the assistance of Interpol could not be sought in this case," a statement filed by the detective inspector in the court said.
It said Interpol channels were tapped and the national central bureaus of the UAE and Saudi Arabia had already communicated that they did not have any information about the incident and NCB Cairo had sought a letter rogatory for the information.
Police said the version of the Bahamas would be extremely crucial in the case.
'If a man is missing and his whereabouts are not known, it is the duty of the state and the central government to see that an investigation is conducted and concluded in accordance with law," Justice P V Kunhikrishnan said in his order while handing over the probe to the CBI. PTI ABS RC
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First Published:
August 11, 2025, 17:30 IST
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