The Court of the Principal Sessions Judge, Alappuzha, P. Somarajan, on Tuesday, granted conditional bail to the first accused, Prasobh Sugathan, and second accused, Mayur Virendra Kumar, in the case of alleged collision between the Singapore-flagged ship m.v. Prabhu Daya and a fishing boat off the Cherthala coast, killing five fishermen, on March 1.
Prasobh was the second officer of the ship and Mayur a seaman.
The court directed the release of the two on their executing a bond with two solvent sureties, each for Rs.5 lakh. Besides, the accused should not leave the jurisdiction of the court without its permission and should report to the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Alappuzha, the investigating officer, between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. every Monday.
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The accused should not interfere with the investigation. Not should they try to influence the witnesses. Prasobh had moved the bail application through his counsel, G. Priyadarshan Thampy, and Mayur through Sunil Maheswaran. Both could not execute the bail on Tuesday, but will try to execute it on Wednesday before the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Ambalappuzha, V. Udayakumar, which had earlier rejected their bail petitions.
The ship's captain and the third accused in the case, Gordon Charles Pereira, had been granted bail by the Alappuzha court earlier. The Ambalappuzha Magistrate, on Monday, had ordered the release of the ship.