NEW DELHI: Top officials of Union Home Ministry are likely to brief National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday regarding the case of two Italian marines - Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre - accused of killing two fishermen Ajesh Binki and Valentine alias Gelastine, off the Kerala coast in February, 2012.
According to sources, the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday prepared a presentation for Doval, giving details of the event and certain vexed issues faced by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing into the case.
Sources said the high-level meeting with NSA will focus on finding a solution to the case, caught in legal mire.
“An internal meeting chaired by Home Secretary Anil Goswami on Wednesday discussed the brief prepared by the Ministry officials. This is a badly handled case and the new government is looking to resolve it at the earliest,” sources said adding that the Supreme Court will hear Italy’s plea challenging the jurisdiction of NIA in charging the marines for murder on December 12.
The meeting with NSA will also discuss the government’s next move in the apex court.
A senior Home Ministry official said NIA has already prepared a chargesheet against the marines but since the agency’s jurisdiction has been challenged, the filing was delayed. NIA, so far has maintained that the incident happened in Indian waters and it is well within its jurisdiction to probe the case as applicability of IPC has been extended to India’s exclusive economic zone.
However, Rome has countered the NIA position arguing that the marines were in international waters at the time of incident and trial should be held in Italy.