A court here has issued an order permitting the police to search the Italian vessel Enrica Lexie and seize the weapons used by the Italian Marines to shxoot two Indian fishermen off the Kollam coast last week.
Judge P.V. Aneeshkumar of the judicial first class magistrate court issued the order on Tuesday after hearing a petition filed by the police seeking the custody of firearms. The weapon used for shooting the fishermen has been kept under the custody of the Italian diplomats in the vessel, the court was told.
Meanwhile, a police team from Kochi went on board the ship to examine the log books and papers of the vessel. According to sources, the two Italian Navy men, Latorre Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, were not interrogated by the police. They were being kept under the police custody at the guest house of the Central Industries Security Force.
Kollam city police commissioner Devesh Kumar Behra took charge of the case investigations here after returning to the service from leave.
Also, the wife and children of Jelestine (Valentine), one of the two fishermen killed in incident, moved the Kerala high court on Tuesday seeking `1 crore as compensation for the damage caused to the family.
A team headed by Kochi city police commissioner M.R. Ajithkumar will probe the killings. Though the investigation was handed over to the crime branch, the Kochi city police commissioner would head the probe, police sources said. Crime branch SP Sam Christy Daniel, now holding the charge of Kollam city police commissioner, would be a member in the probe team.
The additional chief judicial magistrate court in Kochi on Tuesday dismissed a criminal miscellaneous petition seeking a directive to the Ernakulam city police to arrest the crew of the Italian vessel, Enrica Lexie.