Suspense and more suspense!
The arrests of the two Italian Navy personnel were to take place at 8 in the morning, but done seven hours later, as the Italian diplomats continued raising issues and prolonging the discussions with the state police.
Though the Kochi commissioner of the police got on board the ship Enrica Lexie with a resolve that the two Italians would be held in custody by 8 am, the Italian diplomats did not heed to the police requests, police said.
High-level diplomatic talks went on board the ship between the commissioner of police MR Ajithkumar and Italian consulate general Giampaolo Cutillio, with the Kerala team carrying with them nine requests in connection with the case.
The requests included the facilitation to transfer the people involved in the firing to the land, facilitation to conduct investigations on board and facilitation to examine the weapons.
The Italian diplomats could not agree to all the requests, and said they needed a go-ahead from the diplomats who held discussions with the Indian government at New Delhi. The talks continued till 2.30 pm, when the central zone IG K Padmakumar got on board and gave a deadline of 3.30 pm to end the negotiations.
By the time, the consulate general received the directive from New Delhi to let the two Navy personnel go over to the land along with the captain.