CBI files affidavit in HC on cargo vessel sinking case

Cuttack, Mar 20 (PTI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an affidavit in Orissa High Court stating that the Odisha government has not responded to its two requests to grant ‘no-objection’ to probe the 2009 Mongolian Cargo ship sinking off the Paradip coast.

The CBI filed the affidavit on Tuesday in response to a PIL by an RTI activist seeking the court’s intervention towards the nonchalant attitude of the Odisha government towards the repeated request made by the premier investigating agency of the country.

A Division Bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh has adjourned the case to be heard again after two weeks.

Following recommendations of the Union Shipping Ministry, the CBI had sought a no-objection certificate from the Odisha government to initiate investigations into the case. But the state government was allegedly reluctant to the proposal of CBI inquiry into the Black Rose case, which prompted RTI activist Pradeep Kumar Pradhan to approach the high court.

The Mongolian cargo ship ‘M V Black Rose’ with 27 crew members and over 23000 MTs of iron ore sank five kilometres away from the Paradip port on September 9, 2009, in mysterious circumstances. All the crew members, barring one engineer of the vessel, were rescued by the Coast Guard.