Thodupuzha: The further probe conducted by the crime branch into the Thekkady boat tragedy, which claimed 45 lives in 2009, has been completed. The investigation was conducted by a special team led by P.A. Valsan, SP. However, the crime branch will be filing the charge-sheet only after special prosecutor is appointed.
It is was on September 30, 2009, that the tourist boat named 'Jalakanyaka' attached to the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) capsized in Periyar lake in Thekkady killing 45 persons, including 23 women and seven children. All the victims non-Keralites. The additional sessions court in Thodupuzha considered the case on December 24, 2014, five years after the incident.
The court which ruled lack of clarity in the the charge-sheet ordered a further probe into the incident. The accused have committed different crimes and so a separate charge-sheet should be filed, the court had observed. The crime branch has now completed the probe on the basis of this judgement.
Boat driver Victor Samuel and Laskar Aneesh were included in the charge-sheet as the main accused and a case was filed against them with charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The investigation team also filed a separate charge-sheet against M. Mathews, former chief inspector of boats, and N.A. Giri, the proprietor of the company that constructed the ill-fated boat.
The crime branch sought appointment of the special prosecutor so that the technical terms regarding the case can be explained clearly in the court.