THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan on Saturday demanded a comprehensive probe into the out-of-court settlement reached between the Italian Government and the families of Indian fishermen, who were shot dead by Italian Marines off the Kerala coast on February 15. He told a news conference here on Saturday that the settlement was made possible with the full knowledge of the State and Central Governments as both the governments were trying to sabotage the case at various levels from the beginning itself. “How could a foreign government reach at an agreement with Indian citizens without the prior knowledge of the Government?” he asked. “The agreement reached between the Italian Government and the victims’ families is unofficial. This could sabotage the entire prosecution efforts in the Enrica Lexie case,” VS said. The new twist in the case had badly affected the country’s pride at the international level and was against the national interest and it also raised doubts over the security of lakhs of Indian fishermen, he added. When the owner of the boat in which the fishermen were working was offered Rs 17 lakh, he turned hostile and said that the fishermen were responsible for the incident. The compensation offered to the victims’ families are paltry sums as per the Italian standard. But the family members were swallowing their words to take the blood money. It is a disgrace to the whole country, he said. VS pointed out that the High Court had vehemently criticized the victims’ relatives for their condemnable action. “The Central Government appointed lawyers spoke favourably of the killers in the Supreme Court. The murderers even got accommodated in government guest houses instead of in prisons. Kerala Police prepared an FIR in such a manner so as to sabotage the entire prosecution case. Italian Ministers and officials and Christian priests got assistance in order to hatch a conspiracy to sabotage the case. In such a scenario a comprehensive probe should be ordered into the conspiracy,” he said. Achuthanandan said that the greed for money, slavish mentality and lack of self respect on the part of the Indian officials and family members of the victims were the reason for such an act. He alleged that the case was progressing in a preplanned manner. He asked the government to make its stand clear on the case as the entire episode had disgraced the country before the international public. Demands Ouster of Pro-endosulfan Health Department Officials The Opposition Leader demanded immediate ouster of all those Health Department officials who had allegedly been involved in correcting the report against endosulfan. “Those who figured in the endosulfan lobby’s list of monthly bribe should be expelled from the department,” he said. He said that the move was to deny compensation to the endosulfan victims.
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