The Crime Branch is enquiring into the allegation that the fitness certificate for the boat that met with an accident at Thekkady last week was issued without proper approvals from the Indian Registry of Shipping.
The Crime Branch had arrested the Chief Inspector of Boats M. Mathews in this connection on Thursday. Mr. Mathews has also been suspended from service for dereliction of duty.
Kerala Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran told journalists here on Friday that the Chief Inspector of Boats had claimed that the certificate was issued on the basis of approval granted by the Indian Registry of Shipping for the manufacture of the boat. The allegation was that such an approval for building the body of the boat was lacking. The Crime Branch was investigating whether there was any irregularity including fabrication of documents.
The boat had capsized in the Periyar reservoir on September 30, killing 45 persons from Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Haryana.
