Blue corner notice issued for 100 people who sailed off from Kerala

Agencies
June 25, 2019

Kochi, Jun 25: Over five months after around 240 people sailed off on a boat from Munambam near Kochi, in what is suspected to be an illegal immigration bid, and are yet to be traced, 'blue corner notices' for 100 of them have been issued with the help of the CBI and Interpol, a Kerala Police official said on Monday.

These notices seek to locate, identify or obtain information on a person of interest in a criminal investigation.

Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam Rural, M.J. Sojan told IANS that it was after great difficulty that they managed to track down the addresses of the people believed to be in the boat, named "Deva Matha 2".

"We had made several trips to Delhi, to trace the address of 190 people who were residing in and around Ambedkar Nagar colony. The people there were not cooperating at all initially but now with the passage of time, they are now helping and gave us the names and other details. With this, we issued the 'blue corner notices'. We are trying our best to trace the address of the remaining people," said Sojan, who is leading the investigation.

He said the remaining 50 in the boat, which sailed off on January 12, hail from Chennai and the entire group are basically of Tamil origin.

Police had grown suspicious when 80 bags, most of them weighing 40 kg, were found left on the beach after the boat sailed off and a probe was launched. 

"We suspected that these were left behind by people who were travelling on the boat and informed the Coast Guard, Indian Navy and other agencies," Sojan said, adding there was no trace of the vessel or the people. 

Police however found that the boat was purchased by the group for Rs 1.10 crore.

Sojan said that police also managed to take into custody 10 people, whose relatives are on board the boat. "We have also found out that most people on the boat have their friends or relatives, who managed to reach countries like Australia on similar boat trips."

"The arrested were also planning to go on later trips as, we have found out that several people have travelled like this. All the arrested have now got bail," he added.

Local legislators S. Sarma and Anwar Sadat, however, said that they have no information about this episode.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 7,2024

KeralaBJP.jpg

Thiruvananthapuram: Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of late Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, is joining the BJP.

Amidst rumours in this regard, Padmaja told a news channel that neglect from Congress leadership and attraction towards Narendra Modi's leadership led her to take the decision to join the BJP.

She is scheduled to formally join the party today itself.

Congress is already facing much embarrassment over many leaders and workers joining the BJP. Senior leader A K Antony's son Anil Antony, who joined the BJP last year, is now contesting as the BJP candidate at Pathanamthitta in Kerala.

Padmaja's elder brother K Muraleedharan, who is Congress MP from Vadakara in Kozhikode, told reporters that his sister ditched the Congress despite the hardships faced by their father in building up the party in Kerala.

Karunakaran, who died in 2010, is still popularly known as 'leader' in Kerala. He served as Chief Minister for four terms and also as a union minister.

Padmaja, who is a member of Congress Political Affairs Committee in Kerala, contested twice in assembly polls and once in Lok Sabha polls, but got defeated in all.

Padmaja alleged that a section in the Congress itself worked for her defeat in 2021 assembly polls in Thrissur. Even as she complained to party leadership in this regard there was no action taken, she said.

Sources said that Padmaja was expecting a Rajya Sabha seat, which was not considered by the Congress. She was also unhappy that the work on the Karunakaran Foundation building in Thiruvananthapuram was getting delayed

CPM has been campaigning that Congress and BJP are two sides of the same coin as many Congress leaders are joining the BJP.

CPM state secretary M V Govindan said that many Congress leaders in Kerala would be joining the BJP in due course and that could be the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently expressed hopes that BJP will win double digit number of seats in Kerala this time.

Padmaja is based in Thrissur and hence her decision to join the BJP could be a boost to BJP's hopes of winning the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat where actor-turned politician Suresh Gopi is in the fray.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 16,2024

election.jpg

New Delhi: The 2024 general election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases from April 19, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said today, announcing the largest democratic exercise in the world. Results will be announced on June 4.

The seven phases: 
April 19
April 26
May 7
May 13
May 20
May 25
June 1

Simultaneous election for Lok Sabha and assembly will be held in four states -- Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra.  

By-elections will also be held for 26 assembly seats across multiple states, including Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

Mr Kumar, announcing the dates, sent out a strong message on fake news on social media, saying political parties should ensure responsible social media behaviour -- "verify before you amplify".

"Fake news will be dealt with severely as per existent laws.. Section 79 (3)(B) of the IT Act empowers nodal officers in each state to remove unlawful content," he said.

The other strong message was on violation of model code in terms of hate speeches. "There should be issue-based campaign, no hate speeches, no speeches along caste or religious lines, no criticism of anyone's personal lives," he said.

The media must clarify when they carry political adverts, those cannot masquerade as news, he said. Individual messages regarding this would be sent to the candidates, he added.

The commission has employed 2,100 advisors to keep an eye on these issues and strong action will be taken regarding this, he said.

Voters above the age of 85 years and persons with disabilities, with 40 per cent disability can vote from home, Mr Kumar said. Around 82 lakh voter are above the age of 85, he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 10,2024

muzaffar.jpg

Sayyid Abdul Rahiman Bafaki Thangal Foundation has alleged that the post of Mangalore University vice-chancellor was denied to eminent professor and scholar Muzaffar Assadi despite his name being on top of the list sent by the govt.

Foundation general secretary A S Ebrahim Kareem Kadaba told reporters here on Saturday that they would seek opinion from experts and explore possibilities of challenging the appointment of VC for Mangaluru.

“The state cabinet had sent separate lists with three names each for the appointment of VCs of universities in the state. Scholar Assadi’s name was on top of the list of candidates for MU. However, prof Assadi’s name was ignored while filling the post. We suspect it as a conspiracy to hide the irregularities taking place in the university for the past several years,” Ebrahim said, adding Prof Assadi’s name was not considered for the post of Kuvempu University VC too, though his name was recommended for the post.

MU, which was founded in 1980 with prof Sheikh Ali as the first VC, had obtained Grade A in the NAAC ranking. 

However, the rank has now fallen to Grade B. Meanwhile, the university has also been facing a financial crunch in such a way that it is facing difficulties in paying salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff. Further, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out a raid at the university recently, he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.