US ship's foreign crew shifted to Chennai

Prison officials said a senior official from Ukraine Embassy in Delhi met three of the crew members, including master of the ship Dudnik Valentyn, belonging to his country yesterday, and discussed about the case filed against them.

They also provided counselling to engineer Sidorenko Valeriy, who suffered from depression following his arrest.

In a related development, when the Q Branch police petition seeking custody of three of the crew members came up for hearing, Tuticorin Judicial Magistrate C Kathiravan adjourned the matter to tomorrow after hearing arguments.

The counsel for the accused—Lalit Kumar Gurung, Radhesh Dhar Dwivedi (both Indians) -- and UK national Paul Towers— opposed the police plea on the ground that they had already been questioned and there was no need for further custodial
interrogation.