The Italian Marines have been accused of shooting two fishermen from Kerala in 2012. (Reuters Photo)
The Supreme Court has allowed an Italian marine detained for the 2012 killing of two Kerala fishermen to fly home on medical grounds.
The Italian ambassador has given a written undertaking to judges that that Massimiliano Latorre will return to India in four months.
The government told the court that it has no objections to this plan. Latorre was hospitalized recently in Delhi with ischaemia -- a restricted blood supply that can lead to a stroke.
47-year-old Latorre and fellow marine Salvatore Girone had been barred from leaving India pending a possible trial and have been living at Italy's embassy.
They are accused of shooting the two fishermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012 while they were assigned to protect an Italian-flagged oil tanker from pirates.
The Italian sailors say they mistook the fishing boat for a pirate vessel and fired what were intended to be warning shots.
Criminal proceedings against the pair were suspended in March when the Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to prosecutors' jurisdiction in the case and a request for the marines to be allowed home pending its outcome.
The marines were granted a home visit to vote in national elections last year but India was furious when the Italian government initially said they would not send the men back.
A subsequent u-turn which followed intense Indian diplomatic pressure triggered the resignation of Italy's then-foreign minister.