Kollam:
A magistrate court in Kollam, Kerala will today decide whether two Italian navy personnel, arrested for shooting dead two Indian fishermen, should be sent to jail as their police custody ends today.
Though the duo was produced before the court on February 20, the magistrate sent them back to police custody as the investigation was still underway. Since then, the Italian marines have been lodged in a guest house under the vigil of security agencies.
The court had earlier rejected Italy's plea to allow their forensic experts to be present during the examination of the weapons seized from the Italian cargo ship which was allegedly used in the killing of the two fishermen.
The court had, however, allowed Italian representatives to be present during unsealing of the boxes containing the arms and test firing of the guns by ballistic experts.
The arms were seized from the merchant ship 'Enrica Lexie' by the Special Investigating Team probing the case, headed by Kochi City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar in the presence of Italian officials.
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has ruled out the possibility of any out of court settlement in the case which has led to a diplomatic faceoff between India and Italy.
Mr Chandy made it clear that the case against the two Naval guards will proceed as per Indian law.
Though the duo was produced before the court on February 20, the magistrate sent them back to police custody as the investigation was still underway. Since then, the Italian marines have been lodged in a guest house under the vigil of security agencies.
The court had earlier rejected Italy's plea to allow their forensic experts to be present during the examination of the weapons seized from the Italian cargo ship which was allegedly used in the killing of the two fishermen.
The court had, however, allowed Italian representatives to be present during unsealing of the boxes containing the arms and test firing of the guns by ballistic experts.
The arms were seized from the merchant ship 'Enrica Lexie' by the Special Investigating Team probing the case, headed by Kochi City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar in the presence of Italian officials.
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has ruled out the possibility of any out of court settlement in the case which has led to a diplomatic faceoff between India and Italy.
Mr Chandy made it clear that the case against the two Naval guards will proceed as per Indian law.
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