Captain held after 4 Indian stowaways found in ship at port

The police are questioning Pavan Kumar, the captain, as to how the additional people boarded the vessel. The ship was allowed to carry only 36 people, but when the authorities inspected the ship soon after it was berthed at the Port, they found four people in addition.

The rescued were identified as R Prakash (24) of Cuddalore, P Tejus (25) of Calicut in Kerala, Puneet Bisla (21) of Uttar Pradesh and Suresh Kumar (22) of Andhra Pradesh. The captain had appointed these four men for cheap labour. 

Acting on a complaint from Prakash, the Harbour Police registered cases against Ship Captain Pawan Kumar and owner Sunil D’Souza under Section 14A(b) in The Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 2004. 

One of the rescued men told the investigators that on May 21, the four men joined the Shan Ship Management Company in Mumbai and were working at one Rise Express ship. On June 6, the ship owner Sunil D’souza told them that they will get jobs in Rise Dignity. “Based on his reference, we  handed over our passports and Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) to Captain Pavan Kumar,” said one of the four men. 

They used to clean the tanks, remove the oils spills and other menial jobs.

Whenever the ship halted in Iran, Syria and other places, the captain had asked them to hide inside the engine room. He asked them to stay inside the ship until the immigration formalities are over after arriving at Chennai harbour.

Only after the immigration officials caught them, the four men understood the seriousness of travelling without documents. They had spent money in lakhs to get jobs in a ship firm and now with just one-month salary of Rs 21,000, they had to go back home.