Staff Correspondent
Mayabunder, June 19: Seizure of venison from a crew member of MV Swaraj Dweep triggered a ripple at Mayabunder today.
A high drama which followed after the arrest of Vinith Roy, the crew member the ship was delayed at Mayabunder for nearly seven hours, leaving all the passengers deeply upset and frustrated.
The ship was scheduled to leave for Kolkata at 10:00am from Mayabunder but after this arrest the ship left Mayabunder Port only by 5.00 pm.
As per reports, when the ship berthed at Mayabunder Jetty this morning one crew member of the ship Vinith Roy went to Mayabunder Bazaar.
Sources said that when he was bringing nearly 4 kgs of venison from someone known to him in an auto, a team of Forest Department under the overall supervision of the Divisional Forest Officer, Mayabunder intercepted the auto and recovered 4 kg of venison.
Vinith Roy, the auto driver and one co-passenger were arrested by the Forest Department.
Unconfirmed report says that the Pilot and the Captain of the ship also tried to meet the DFO in this matter but they could not meet and had to go back to the ship.
Although some sources maintain that the delay was because of some repair works in the crane of the ship but others believe that the delay was just because the authorities onboard the ship were trying to save the arrested crew members.
It is learnt that the ship left without the crew to Kolkata at 05:00pm and it is also learnt that the crew member and other two have been produced in the court, from where they have been sent to Judicial Custody.
To know the exact reason behind the delay, when Andaman Sheekha tried to contact the Deputy Director Shipping over phone, he couldn’t be reached. The ACF of Mayabunder also refused to comment in this issue when contacted.
