Four 'undocumented' Indian crew members of an
Iran-bound merchant ship “ Rise Dignity” have been rescued by immigration officials
during a check after it docked here and its captain arrested on charges of
trying to hide them, police said.
The four crew members,
including one from Tamilnadu, were found kept hidden in the
engine room of the Panama-registered crude oil carrier "Rise Dignity".
One of the crew member held captive in the engine room called his relatives
when vessel arrived in Chennai Port. Relatives of that crew member informed
immigration officials and asked for help.
Captain
of the ship Pavan Kumar, who allegedly did not include the names of four in the
list of crew members and tried to hide them from Immigration officials, had
been arrested, the police said.
Throughout
the search deck cadets and other staffs kept moving these four Indian crew
members, so that immigration officials could not find them. Finally, Master
broke down in front of immigration officials when grilled.
R Prakash of Cuddalore in Tamilnadu,
A Suresh Kumar from Andhra Pradesh, Thejos Pukkot from Kerala and Punit from
Uttar Pradesh were rescued and handed over to the Harbour Police and later
allowed to go (to home towns), according to police.
According
to a complaint filed by 24-year old Prakash with police, he and other three
Indians were 'cheated' by their Mumbai-based employer and the captain and
brought onboard the vessel.
"When we learnt that
our names were not in the list of crew members. We asked them and all they said
was they will manage... but the captain and other crew members hid us four in
engine room to avoid being caught," they said.
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