Police arrest two more persons in connection with boat tragedy

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  24 Sep 2019 8:10 AM GMT
Police arrest two more persons in connection with boat tragedy

Vizag: The East Godavari Police claimed that the police were not responsible for the Royal Vasishta Boat Tragedy on the river Godavari and there was no political pressure to investigate the case. The police claimed that the investigation is to ascertain who is responsible for the biggest boat tragedy in Andhra Pradesh, which claimed 51 lives.

Police have nabbed two more persons in connection with the Godavari boat tragedy at Kachuluru near Devipatnam in East Godavari district.

Superintendent of Police, East Godavari, Adnan Nayeem Asmi said that they arrested President of Sir Arthur Cotton A/C Boat Owners’ Association, Geda Veera Venkataramana Satyanaga Murali and Yerramsetty Raja Rao, who oversees the Papikondalu Boat Owners’ and Agency Welfare Association, for allowing boats to sail based on a circular from port officers and for not seeking permission from authorities of Irrigation and other departments.

A few days back we arrested three boat owners, Kodigudla Venkata Ramana, Yalla Prabhavati and Yerramsetty Atchutamani for their negligence that led to the tragedy. The trio engaged an inexperienced driver for the Royal Vasishta boat which capsized in the Godavari River, Adnan Nayeem Asmi added.

At the time of the accident, 77 persons were travelling in the boat, which was on its way to Papikondalu. After the accident, the locals rescued 26 persons. The NDRF and SDRF teams retrieved 37 dead bodies and search is on for the remaining 14 dead bodies.

The police suspect that some of the bodies might have gotten trapped in the sunken boat and they are chalking out plans to find out a method to retrieve the ill-fated boat from the waters, Rampachodavaram ASP, Vakul Jindal and Rajahmundry urban district SP Shemushi Bajpai said.

On Monday, police held consultations with New India Assurance Insurance Company to provide an additional Rs 10 lakh compensation to the family members of the victims in the boat tragedy through the insurance firm.

In an effort to provide the insurance claim to families of people who died in the boat mishap, the police have set up a single-window helpdesk. This aims at helping families provide copies of the FIR, inquest and post-mortem reports and authentication certificate from the insurance company that are necessary for the claim amount.

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