Merchant navy captain Ashok Kumar arrested in Iran, family seeks intervention of MEA

KURUKSHETRA: The family of the merchant navy captain Ashok Kumar from village Naisi in Ismailabad block of the district Kurukshetra has sought the intervention of the ministry of external affairs (MEA) to bring captain Ashok back to India who has been arrested on March 13 by Iranian Coast Guard from Fujairah Coast in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in connection with an alleged case of oil smuggling.
As per Sushma Saini, wife of captain Ashok, “Her husband has been arrested from Fujairah Coast under false charges of oil smuggling and he has been falsely implicated into this case. My husband had boarded a flight to Iran from Mumbai on January 10 and he had joined the ship on January 15 with the Shah Marine Company.”
On March 19, Sushma has lodged a grievance bearing number IR1OTH106186319 against Iran based Shah Marine Shipping Company bearing International Maritime Organisation (IMO) number 8921171 with the MEA. Sushma said, “Ashok had signed eight months contract with Shah Marine Company.”
On March 20, Sushma has also filed a complaint bearing number CMOFF/N/2019/032921 with the Haryana chief minister grievances redress & monitoring system against the said maritime company.
Moreover, on March 19, Kurukshetra member parliament (MP) Raj Kumar Saini has also written a letter bearing number MP/510/19 to the minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj requesting to help captain Ashok Kumar who has been arrested in Iran in an alleged case of oil smuggling. To union minister Sushma Swaraj, MP Saini in his letter has requested that “I request you to strongly support to bring captain Ashok Kumar out of this matter.”
While talking to TOI, wife of Ashok, Sushma said, “On Saturday, March 23, my husband called me after borrowing phone from someone and I have talked to Ashok over a phone call for nearly 2-3 minutes only, and before this, I had talked to him on March 13 and since then we were worried and completely unaware about his whereabouts. On Saturday, my husband has confirmed that he has been arrested in an alleged case of oil smuggling by Iran authorities. He told me that five ships were caught by the Iranian Coast Guards, of which the owners of four ships have come forward to the authorities in Iran while the owner of his ship has not presented himself. My husband asked me to seek the intervention of ministry of external affairs, following which we have written to all the concerned authorities in India.”
“Over the phone call on Saturday, my husband told me that he is fine in Iran but is not receiving enough food to eat and as he was a captain of Shah Marine (IMO: 8921171) ship which is taken into custody, therefore, he is also facing some other inconveniences. I felt relieved that my husband is fine and ask the Government of India to help us.”
When questioned about how she came to know about her husband has been arrested in Iran, Sushma said, “One person of our village is a chief engineer in merchant navy who is working with a Company, and on March 17, he informed me about my husband’s presence at Fujairah Coast. Both belonged to the same village and knew each other and on March 12 evening, my husband had signalled at the person from his ship on the concerned coast. On the next day on March 13, the person came to know that some ships have been taken into custody by the Iranian authorities and taken to Iran and the ship of my husband is also one of them. Therefore, he intended to inform us about my husband.”
The letter written to Union minister Swaraj by Kurukshetra MP Saini, mentions, “On January 10, captain Ashok had boarded flight to Iran from Mumbai on January 10. After joining the ship, captain Ashok came to know that he has been cheated on the pretext of work at a ship which was smuggling the oil. Ashok talked to the owner of his company over the phone and asked to relieve from the ship. But the company owner asked to wait for some days until some other captain does not join the ship. The company owner also asked captain Ashok to turn the ship towards Dubai, from where he has been arrested after some days at Fujairah Coast during a raid by Iranian Coast Guard. The ship and crew have been arrested and taken to Iran and their mobile phones have been snatched from them due to which Ashok could not contact his family. There were 6-7 more Indians along with Ashok.”
Wife of Ashok Sushma said, “So far we have not received any response from the ministry of external affairs. On Saturday, I had contacted the ministry which stated that matter is being investigated and we would be going to Delhi on Tuesday.”