Boat enters prohibited waters near Mumbai, sailor provides false information; 15 booked

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Mumbai Police on Monday said that it has booked 15 people for allegedly entering prohibited waters near the city and upon being apprehended providing false information to the officials.

"The boat operator, when questioned, told the officials that there were Pakistanis in the boat, the police probed the matter further and learnt that the information was fake," an official said.

According to the Mumbai Police sources, on April 1, between 8 am and 10 am, a fishing boat was spotted around 55 nautical miles from the west coast of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea. The fishing boat had entered the restricted area of ONGC near BPA platform in disobedience to the orders of patrol boat T 16 of the Indian Navy.

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The police said that the boat and people present in the fishing boat were initially detained and interrogated. In the course of questioning, one of the boat occupiers allegedly refused to give a truthful statement and delivered false information to the officials. The said information was verified by the officials and was later termed as fake information.

Police sources said, during enquiry, the boat master told security agencies that two of the sailors were from Pakistan, though they were of Indian origin, he said.

Accordingly, a case was registered against the operator of the fishing boat and around 14 sailors of the boat for allegedly misleading the security team by giving false information. The officials took serious cognisance of the incident and a complaint was filed against the boat master and 14 other sailors.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against them under Indian Penal Code Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 182 (false information), 179 (refusing to answer public servant authorised to question) and provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act, the police said.