Two naval guards of the Italian ship, Enrica Lexie, are in custody of the Kerala police.
Italy’s deputy foreign minister Staffan De Mistura held talks with the external affairs ministry here on Friday amid what New Delhi believes is an “acceptance” of its legal position by Italy on the killing of two fishermen off Kochi coast recently.
Italy is also rushing its foreign minister Giulio Terzi to New Delhi on Tuesday.
Two naval guards of the Italian ship, Enrica Lexie, are in custody of the Kerala police, which is likely to search the ship on Saturday for the weapons allegedly used by the duo to shoot the two fishermen.
Official sources in Delhi said the fact that Italy wants to have its presence during the ballistic examination is a sign that they have accepted India’s legal position on the issue.
The two guards have been charged with murder of the fishermen, but Italy has maintained that the incident took place in international waters and a trial can only be held on the Italian soil.
Emerging after talks in Delhi, Mistura said allowing Italian forensic experts during ballistic examination of weapons and bullets is a “good sign”.
Meanwhile, the Kerala high court directed arrest of Enrica Lexie on a petition by Doramma, wife of Jelestine, one of the two fishermen killed in the February 15 incident. The court said the ship should be restrained at Cochin port as it accepted the plea of Doramma, who had challenged a single judge’s decision, permitting the release of the ship after submitting Rs25 lakh as deposits.
The ship, berthed at the out of port area is being brought to the oil terminal on Friday to enable search operations.
—with agency inputs
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