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Dangerous waters
 Many
times, crimes have navigated even through waters and readers will be astonished
at the variety of crimes committed on ships.
Most of these crimes are never
reported to the police as the captain of the ship would settle such issues
internally. But only when such violations are serious, such occurrences are
normally brought to the knowledge of the police.
Normally, crimes by outsiders
on ships occur at two stages: when the ship is at the port and the other when it
is at mid-sea. When the ship is sailing, smugglers go on boats and clandestinely
purchase foreign goods and liquor.
Criminals from the nearest port
also make use of this opportunity and either by swimming or by using a boat,
reach the ship and loot the foreign goods at night.
When the ship sails near the
shore, apart from targeting the foreign goods, criminals know pretty well about
an important aspect - that the workers in the ship would not have deposited
their salary and savings in the bank and there is money in their lockers.
But recently, a case of murder
was reported on a ship. An Israeli national, Cohen Yoel, was murdered on
Nancowri, sailing between Chennai and Port Blair in the Andamans.
 There
was a deep wound on Yoel's neck and doctors of the Stanley Medical College,
based on the nature of the wound, had reported that the weapon used for the
murder might have been a thick, sharp-edged weapon other than an ordinary knife.
Based on this useful clue,
police had seized all the weapons which were found in the ship, especially in
the kitchen. The doctors identified a meat cleaver, used in the kitchen, as a
possible weapon used for executing the murder.
Since the deceased was an
Israeli national, police at first suspected foreigners' involvement in the
murder and interrogated 15 foreigners travelling in the ship. But this did not
lead them anywhere.
Subsequently, police proceeded
tried to fix the people who could have had access to the weapon - the meat
cleaver. Five persons who had access to the kitchen and the meat cleaver were
grilled by the police.
The truth emerged slowly.
Rajesh Pal, a butcher working in the kitchen, had had a scuffle with the
deceased before the day of the murder. Police continued their interrogation in
their usual style and recovered the blood stained jeans and denim shirt of
Rajesh Pal.
But, at first, Rajesh Pal,
refused to own up and the claimed that the blood stains were from an injury
which he suffered in the kitchen a few days ago. But forensic tests confirmed
that the blood stains found on Pal's shirt matched the blood group of Yoel and
ultimately Pal confessed to the crime.
While
citing the reasons for the murder, Pal, a well-built, 25-year-old Bihari, had
said Yoel had had sex openly with his girl friend Carina Elizabeth on the ship,
which Pal had objected to.
In the scuffle, Yoel had
assaulted Pal in front of others. Feeling humiliated, Pal had tracked Yoel down
and killed him with the meat cleaver when he was asleep with his girl friend.
So, we cannot say land is
always unsafe as it gives easy access to criminals. Sometimes even waters may
also be unsafe as crime can raise its ugly head even there.
Harvey
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