4,000-page chargesheet: 35 Somali pirates hijacked MV Ruen vessel to demand

MUMBAI: The 35 Somali pirates, who were captured by the Indian Navy in a 40-hour operation in March this year, had hijacked the Malta-flagged merchant vessel ‘MV Ruen’ and held its 17 crew members hostage to demand a ransom of $60 million USD ( ₹500 crore), revealed a 4,000-page chargesheet filed by the Yellow Gate police on Monday.
The pirates were brought to Naval Dockyard by the Navy personnel where the Yellow Gate police took them into custody. In addition to seizing two boats, three engines, 196 live cartridges, one magazine and a knife from the pirates, the chargesheet revealed that the police also defused a rocket launcher seized by the Navy from the pirates in the Naval Armament Depot in Karanja and then sent it to the forensic science laboratory for testing.
The police have recorded the statements of 70 people, including seven Bulgarian nationals, staff of INS Kolkata, and the crew of the hijacked ship, mentioned the chargesheet. The chargesheet also said that two foreign nationals were marked as wanted in the case.
“The 4,000-page chargesheet was filed in 6 volumes. The 35 Somali pirates were brought to Mumbai aboard the warship INS Kolkata, days after they were captured by the Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea. The pirates were arrested on March 24, after the Indian Navy handed them over to us,” said a police officer.
“We have applied stringent sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Indian Arms Act and the Explosives Substances Act, 1908 in the case. We have also kept further provisions of the 173 (8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) power of the police to conduct further investigations open in the case,” said the police officer.
The officer said on June 30, they filed a separate chargesheet in the other matter in which nine Somalian pirates were arrested from the Iranian fishing vessel Al Kambar by the Indian Navy after safely rescuing 23 Pakistani fishermen on March 29.
“As UAPA was not applied, we did not get a 180-day period to file the chargesheet. We have filed a 1,500-page chargesheet against nine pirates. We could not record statements of victims of the Pakistani nationals as we, despite seeking help from the Pakistan government through the Ministry of Home Affairs, have not got any communication,” said the police officer.
Iranian fishing vessel Al Kambar was hijacked by 9 Somali Pirates. Indian Navy Ship Sumedha intercepted the vessel approximately 90 nautical miles southwest of Socotra and was reported to have been boarded by nine armed pirates.
The police have maintained sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 383 (extortion), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 342 (wrongful confinement for ten or more days), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Maritime Anti-Piracy Act, 2022 and Indian Arms Act said the police officer.
In the first incident where 35 pirates were arrested as they had fired back at the Indian Navy UAPA was applied said the police.