MADURAI: The wife of a deceased fisherman has approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking a re-postmortem on her husband’s body and an investigation into his death. The man allegedly died after his boat was hit by a Sri Lankan vessel.
R Brunda (21), the petitioner, stated that her husband Rajkiran (28), from Pudukkottai, went to sea on October 18 along with two others — Sugathan and Xavier. Their boat was among more than 100 trawlers that set sail from Kottaipattinam that day.
“In the sea, authorities from the Sri Lankan navy intercepted them and tried to arrest the fishermen for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line. At that time, it is alleged that Rajkiran attempted to escape and the Sri Lankan vessel accidentally rammed his boat, causing it to sink. The Sri Lankan Navy claimed that they saved Suganthan and Xavier, but were only able to recover Rajkiran’s body after a two-day search operation,” Brunda said.
However, according to the petitioner’s family members, who witnessed the incident from another boat, the Sri Lankan Naval authorities opened fire at Rajkiran and he fell unconscious. Brunda also claimed that a photograph of Rajkiran’s body supports the eye-witnesses’ version.
Rajkiran’s body was brought to India in a sealed coffin and the authorities buried it hastily, without showing the body to the family members or conducting a re-postmortem, she added in the plea. The case is likely to be heard on Monday (November 15).