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Pirate attack: Kin of kidnapped Indian sailor in distress, prays for safe return

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Pirate-attack

Family members of the missing Indian sailor Pankaj Kumar believed to be kidnapped by sea pirates from the ship MV Tampen anchored in West African nation Gabon are distressed.

Pankaj Kumar, aged 30, hailing from the Gurdaspur district in Punjab was the Second Engineer of MV Tampen.

“Only last year he got married. We are all distressed a lot. There is no information about his whereabouts in Gabon. The shipping company officials are saying that my brother is missing and beyond that there is no information,” Sandeep Kumar, the younger brother of sailor Pankaj Kumar, told IANS over phone.

According to Sandeep Kumar, the family consists of younger sister, their parents and wife of Pankaj Kumar.

“We have sent an email to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are yet to hear anything from his office,” Sandeep Kumar added.

He said requests have been made to the shipping company the Mumbai based Proactive Shipping Management to do the needful to trace his elder brother.

According to him, aerial search operations were carried out by Gabon authorities on Monday and after that it was stopped.

The ship, with 17 Indian crew, was sailing from Cameroon to the UAE when it developed some propulsion problems and was anchored just two kilometres away from Gabon’s Owendo anchorage when pirates boarded the ship on Sunday morning.

While the pirates threw Pankaj Kumar overboard, they also shot and injured Cook Sunil Ghosh and Chief Officer Naurial Vikas who were later admitted to a local hospital.

“Ghosh (from West Bengal) is doing fine in the hospital. Family members-wife and others- had spoken to him. There is no information about his discharge from the hospital,” a relative told IANS.

“All the sailors on the ship are distressed and would want to come back home,” Nithin Suresh Kuttipravan, a friend of one of the sailors Deepak Udayaraj told IANS.

Kuttipravan is reaching out to various official agencies so that the Indian sailors are brought back at the earliest.

“An official of the Indian Embassy in Congo is trying to reach out to the sailors. The ship captain is under a lot of stress and is answering the officials from the Gabon government,” Kuttipravan said.

He said as per the information from the sailors on board of MV Tampen, the ship’s satellite phone was not working for the past one month.

“They were communicating using email. Now they are using Whatsapp using their Indian SIM cards. We have requested the Indian Embassy to provide the sailors local SIM cards so that they can stay in touch with their family members,” Kuttipravan added.

The Honorary Consulate of India in Gabon is John Rupchandani.

According to Kuttipravan, all the sailors are ready to sign off and reach India at the earliest.

“It seems the shipping company wants the sailors to sail to Dubai after setting right the ship,” he said.

“As per my information, the pirates wanted to kidnap about three/four sailors. While resisting the kidnap attempt, the pirates had shot two Indian sailors,” Kuttipravan said.

According to him, the ship was sailing at a speed of four knots powered by one propulsion and the ship dropped anchor just two kilometres away from Gabon’s Owendo anchorage.

The ship is owned by Prince Marine Transport Service Pvt Ltd, Mumbai and the sailors were provided by Proactive Ship Management.

The ship sailing from Cameroon to the UAE has been facing technical problems enroute. Both its propulsion systems had stopped several times.

The vessel was diverted to Owendo for repairs as it was the nearest port.

On Sunday, six pirates attacked the ship and kidnapped Pankaj Kumar and shot two sailors.

“The marine and local police in Gabon are questioning three persons who had boarded the ship two days before the attack. We hope to know some information about the attackers and the missing crew today (Wednesday),” Captain Sunil Kumar, Security Officer of Proactive Ship Management, told IANS on Wednesday.

“One garbage cleaner and two technicians had boarded the ship as per the information conveyed to us by our agent there,” he had said.

Officials of Prince Marine Transport and Proactive Ship Management were not available for an update when contacted by Mumbaipress.

Crime

Mumbai Five members of Lawrence Bishnoi gang arrested, Mumbai Crime Branch gives a shock to Bishnoi gang

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Mumbai: Mumbai Crime Branch has claimed to have arrested five shooters of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi gang in a major operation. 5 revolvers and 21 live cartridges have been recovered from the possession of these shooters. Mumbai Police is also interrogating these shooters. Police arrested the attackers before they could execute the incident and averted the incident. Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested these five from Andheri area. They had come here with the intention of carrying out a major vandalism incident, but the police foiled the incident before that.

The arrested accused include Vikas Thakur, Samit Dilawar, Devendra Rupesh Saxena, Shreya Suresh Yadav, Vivek Gupta. Vikas Thakur is a resident of Versova Andheri, Samit Mukesh Kumar Dilawar is a resident of Sonipat, Haryana, Devendra Rupesh Saxena is a resident of Madhya Pradesh, Shreya Suresh Yadav is a resident of Jagdishpur, Bihar and Vivek Kumar Gupta is a resident of Rampur, Rajasthan.

Weapons have been recovered from their possession and the Crime Branch has registered a case against them under Section 3 and 25 of the BNS, Section 55 and 61 (2) and Maharashtra Police Act. The Crime Branch is investigating where the accused brought the weapons from.

After the shooting of Salman Khan, Lawrence Bishnoi gang is trying to become active in Mumbai, but due to the strict action of Mumbai Crime Branch, the back of the gang has been broken and now the Crime Branch has given a big blow to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and arrested five of its members. The Crime Branch is further investigating the matter.

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Crime

Mumbai Malad Gudi Padwa violence: Three arrested, situation peaceful, police alert, DCP Asmita Hotel

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Mumbai: After the violence on Gudi Padwa in Malad, Mumbai, the situation is now peaceful here, but despite this, politics has also started on this issue and an attempt has been made to spread communal tension by giving it a Hindu-Muslim color. On the occasion of Gudi Padwa, a local youth attacked five minors passing in front of Noorani Mosque. In this case, the police has controlled the situation and so far three people have been arrested. A case of rioting has also been registered against them. The crowd is also being identified. The accused have been identified on the basis of CCTV and three people have been arrested. Along with this, after getting control of the situation, the police has put Malad on high alert and is also keeping an eye on communal elements.

Now communal elements have started trying to spoil the atmosphere in Mumbai, so the police is also keeping an eye on social media. Local DCP Smita Patil said that the situation in Malad Maloni is peaceful and action is being taken against the miscreants. Arrests are also continuing after examining CCTV footage and other footage.

So far three people have been arrested in this case, one of whom is Sharan, who attacked the minor. In this case, Vishwa Hindu Parishad Bajrang Dal has given an ultimatum to the police that if they do not arrest the accused as soon as possible, they will protest. In this case, the DCP has made tight security arrangements at all places and has also appealed not to pay attention to rumors and not to share unverified videos or controversial posts on social media. The police is on alert to maintain law and order in Mumbai and Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Panchalkar has issued strict instructions.

Sanjay Nirupam’s venomous attack on the violence on Gaddi Padwa

After the violence on Gudi Padwa, Sanjay Nirupam has made many serious allegations against the police, he has accused the police of delaying action and protecting the accused. He has questioned the action of Mumbai Police and said that the main accused Sharan and his mother do not allow Hindus to celebrate their festivals and their hooliganism continues here. Sanjay Nirupam has called Muslims Jihadis. Sanjay Nirupam said that the police took action when pressure was put on them.

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Crime

Kunal Kamra row: 3 more FIRs filed over Shinde jibe, merged with Mumbai case

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Mumbai, March 29: In fresh trouble for controversial comedian Kunal Kamra, three additional FIRs filed against him in different cities have been merged with the one registered in Mumbai’s Khar police station over his alleged jibe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The stand-up comedian courted controversy for cracking an allegedly objectionable joke during a show last month, using the term ‘gaddar’ (traitor) to make a veiled reference to Shinde.

The three zero FIRs that have been merged with the main case registered in Khar were filed in Thane, Nashik and Buldhana by Shiv Sena workers.

The three FIRs were filed by Sunil Jadhav from Nandgaon Manmad, Nashik; Sanjay Bhujbal from Jalgaon Jamod, Buldhana and Mayur Borse from Manmad, Nashik.

The complainants in the three FIRs said that the comedian allegedly created hatred between political parties by making ‘objectionable’ remarks against Shinde. They also alleged that Kamra’s remarks defamed Shinde’s ‘conduct’.

The three FIRs were registered under penal provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with defamation and public mischief.

Kamra, who has been granted protection against arrest till April 7 by the Madras High Court, has been summoned by Khar police for recording his statement on Monday – this will be the third police attempt to call him as he has not responded to two earlier requests.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 9 (Mumbai), Dixit Gedam said two offences have been registered at Khar police station.

One is against Kamra for derogatory comments, while the other is against people who vandalised the Unicontinental hotel in Khar where the shoot of his stand-up comedy act titled ‘Naya Bharat’ took place.

Kamra landed in trouble after giving a comic spin-off to a popular Hindi song in which he indirectly described Shinde as a ‘traitor’, referring to the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis which eventually led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government.

The controversy snowballed after Kamra uploaded a clip from the show on social media last Saturday. Angry Shiv Saniks vandalised the hotel, resulting in the arrest and the subsequent granting of bail to 12 Shinde supporters.

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