'He was sick of being harassed by cops'

Sources close to MV Kuber's owner, who attempted suicide on Monday, said he was tired of policemen questioning his men and mentally torturing him

Sources close to MV Kuber's owner, who attempted suicide on Monday, said he was tired of policemen questioning his men and mentally torturing him

It has been over two years but time has done little to wipe out the nightmares of the owner of MV Kuber, the ill-fated vessel that was hijacked by Mohammed Ajmal Qasab and nine other Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists who launched the 26/11 terror attacks.


Hiralal Masani, aboard MV Kuber at Porbandar in Gujarat

On Monday, Kuber's owner Hiralal Masani attempted suicide. Sources close to him revealed that the 51-year old blamed local police who have been harassing him and his crew, picking them up for interrogation and mentally torturing Masani.

In November last year, Masani who is physically challenged, had told this newspaper at Porbandar that the vessel was haunted, and that he had performed scores of rites, begging for divine intervention to exorcise the demons that he believed were haunting the 10-year-old vessel.

He had recounted the ordeal of losing four of his employees to terrorists four fishermen from the town were on board MV Kuber and were killed by the attackers.

Their ghosts and memories continue to haunt the 1.5 lakh-odd population of the area since, residents had said. Masani, at the time, also feared being falsely implicated in the case. He spoke of his continuous efforts to ward off the evils hounding the vessel just to keep it afloat.

"And now, it is the local police. His crew has been picked up for questioning in the past one month.
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This has made it difficult for him to eke out a living," said Manish Lodhabhai, president of Porbandar Boat Owners' Association.

A resident of the area pointed out that while Masani is finding it difficult to hire manning crew due to the fear of ghosts, cops are picking up his few employees for questioning, mostly for over straying into the Pakistani waters.

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