By PTI
PROBANDAR: Gujarat Police have registered an FIR on charges of murder and attempt to murder against 10 personnel of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) after they fired at an Indian fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast, killing a crew member and injuring another, an official said on Monday.
The FIR was registered on Sunday night at Navi Bandar police station in Porbandar district, which has territorial jurisdiction beyond 12 nautical miles off the Gujarat coast, under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), and relevant provisions of the Arms Act, the official said.
As per the FIR, ten unidentified PMSA personnel, five each onboard two boats, are accused of opening fire at the Indian fishing boat ‘Jalpari’ at around 4 pm Saturday, killing one Sridhar Ramesh Chamre (32), a fisherman from Palghar district in Maharashtra.
Another fisherman, named Dilip Solanki (34), who hailed from Diu, was injured in the firing.
He is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Okha coastal town of Devbhumi Dwarka district in Gujarat.
There were seven crew members on the fishing boat.
India has taken serious note of the unprovoked firing by PMSA and will take up the issue diplomatically with the Pakistan side, official sources in Delhi earlier said.
In his complaint, Solanki said seven fishermen on board ‘Jalpari’ were engaged in fishing activities in the Indian waters near the international boundary when 10 PMSA personnel onboard two boats opened fire, killing one of the fishermen and injuring another.
The dead fisherman’s body was brought to Okha on Sunday, and the FIR was registered at night in Porbandar on the basis of a complaint by Solanki, the official said.
The boat had sailed from Okha for fishing activities on October 25 with seven fishermen onboard, two of whom were from Maharashtra, four from Gujarat and one from Diu (in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu), officials said.
Meanwhile, Residents of Vadrai village in Maharashtra’s Palghar district observed a bandh on Monday to protest.
All shops and other establishments remained closed and public buses and auto-rickshaws stayed off roads in the village, following the bandh call given by local panchayat which condemned the killing of Chamre.
Chamre is survived by wife, two daughters aged 6 and 8, and parents.
“The situation in the village is currently peaceful,” Satpati police station’s assistant police inspector Sudhir Daherkar said.
Chamre’s body will be brought to the village for the last rites after postmortem and completion of due formalities, sources said.
The firing incident took place around 4 PM on Saturday near the international maritime boundary line, officials had said.
India has taken serious note of the PMSA resorting to unprovoked firing on the Indian fishing boat and is going to take up this issue diplomatically with the Pakistan side, official sources in Delhi earlier said.
Residents of the village were in a state of shock since Sunday after getting the news of Chamre’s death in the firing.
They said if at all the boat had entered the Pakistan waters, the crew members could have been held captive by the neighbouring country instead of being fired upon.
Chamre’s father claimed the boat carrying the seven fishermen had not crossed the border.
On Monday, roads and streets in the village wore a deserted look as the residents stayed indoors in support of the bandh called to protest Chamre’s killing.
