A special police team investigating the May 7 Tanur boat tragedy submitted its chargesheet before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court at Parappanangadi on Monday.
The 13,186-page chargesheet has arraigned 12 including a few government officials. Twenty-two people, as many as 15 of them children, had drowned when an overcrowded tourist boat capsized in the Poorapuzha at Tanur around 7 p.m. on May 7.
It took 12 weeks for the special investigation team led by DySP V.V. Benny to file the chargesheet, which included 865 documents and 386 witness statements.
Among those accused are the boat owner Nasar P., Alappuzha Port Chief Surveyor Sebastian Joseph, and Beypore Port Officer V.V. Prasad.
E.T. Mohammed Basheer, MP of Ponnani, said here on Tuesday that each line of the chargesheet filed by the investigation team was startling. “The chargesheet has endorsed what the local people said about the tragedy,” he said.
The chargesheet has given clear hints not only about those responsible for the tragedy, but about those who tried to help those responsible, he said. “The report is clear about the fact that the boat was a sham,” said Mr. Basheer.
He said the way the accused twisted the rules to construct the boat in such a manner should not be taken lightly. He said that the political leadership that had tried to cover up the black hands behind the tragedy should also be exposed.
“This investigation report clearly says that the tragedy was man-made. The people are curious to know what action the government is going to take,” he said.
