Detained US ship's crew shifted from Tirunelveli to Chennai

Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu: Twenty two foreign nationals among the 35 arrested crew of detained US-based private ship were today shifted from the Central Prison at Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli to Chennai while a court adjourned the hearing to Thursday on a police plea seeking seven days custody of three others.

The 22 people were sent to Chennai Puzhal Central Prison with tight security days after officials from the U.K. and Ukraine missions met the crew from their respective countries, lodged in the prison since their arrest on October 18, officials said.

Police had arrested all the 35 crew members, including 12 Indians, on board M V Seaman Guard Ohio off Tuticorin on the charge of entering Indian waters without authorization and possessing arms and ammunitions without valid documents.

The remaining ten Indian crew would continue to be lodged in the Palayamkottai prison, officials said.

Prison officials said a senior official from Ukraine Embassy in Delhi met three of the crew members, including master of the ship Dudnik Valentyn, belonging to his country yesterday and discussed about the case filed against them.

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They also provided counselling to engineer Sidorenko Valeriy, who suffered from depression following his arrest.

In a related development, when the Q Branch police petition seeking custody of three of the crew members came up for hearing, Tuticorin Judicial Magistrate C Kathiravan adjourned the matter to tomorrow after hearing arguments.

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The counsel for the accused -- Lalit Kumar Gurung, Radhesh Dhar Dwivedi (both Indians) -- and UK national Paul Towers --opposed the police plea on the ground that they had already been questioned and there was no need for further custodial interrogation.