My husband; Sanjay Chaudhary was sailing as Chief Engineer on M.V. Atlantic Olive Ship managed by Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Company at the time of his untimely and mysterious death.
He was employed as Chief Engineer having the responsibility of the maintenance of machinery installed on the ship. Since the day he has boarded the ship, he used to call me via IMO calls at least 4-5 times a day to express his unwillingness to work with the company due to the persistent acrimonious behavior of the Captain and the clandestine involvement of the Company in illegal activities like smuggling, weapons, and drugs, etc.
He told me that he had a heated argument with the Captain regarding the improper functioning of machinery as well as his indulgence in illegal activities. Captain however did not budge and threatened him with dire consequences. I suggested him to make a complaint to the senior officials, but he said that Captain works in close association with the senior management and thus complaining about him will be of no use.
On 15.4.2018 I again received a call from my husband who was feeling threatened that since he is now aware of the illegal activities of the Captain and other officials of the Company, he might be killed on the Ship. He apprehended serious danger to his life and limb. He told me that if something happens to him, I should take care of the family. I was alarmed and I asked him to leave the job and come back.
Unfortunately, my fear came true on 17.4.2018, when I was informed about the sudden demise of my husband purportedly due to acute cardiac arrest while he was on duty.
They tried their best to delay the process to the maximum extent they could and expressed their indifferent attitude towards my several requests of early transportation of mortal remains as well as a request from the Embassy of India, Dakar dated 20.4.2018.
Further, when I received the mortal remains of my husband, I noticed some unusual swelling on his face and there were some cuts, marks, and lumps present on the body. When I enquired about this from Rajiv Kumar, who was present at the funeral, he had no answer which created suspicion in my mind about his death.
I further enquired about these wound marks and lumps vide email dated 31.05.2018 to which they provided a mind-boggling response through email dated 11.06.2018 that they have checked with the doctor who performed the autopsy in Cape Verde and as per his version no facial injuries or other signs of aggression were observed on his body during the autopsy.
My suspicion became graver when I found that some belongings of my husband, which were handed over to one of my relatives at the cremation ground itself were missing. The missing items consisted of all the electronics including laptop, mobile, pen drives, hard drives, etc., files, and documents, which could have thrown light on the circumstance of his death. I am sure these items are with them, which need to be recovered to ascertain the truth in the matter.
Despite my several emails to the Company, to date, no satisfactory response has been given. On 31.5.2018, the company admitted that they could not find the missing articles. This threadbare reply made me clear that the electronics and documents of my husband have been misappropriated so that they cannot be used as evidence against them.
My husband was in the habit of writing down his day-to-day life activities and I suspect that all his notes which could have been detrimental to the accused persons have been illegally removed.
All the events right from (i) heated argument between my husband and the captain regarding his indulgence in illegal activities; (ii) fear of my husband about his life due to knowledge of the illegal activities on the Ship (iii) his suspicious and sudden death despite good health conditions (iv) inappropriate delay in the arrival of the body to India (v) unusual swelling and cuts on the body (vi) Missing belongings & (vii) Suspicious looking medical documents provided by the Company and (viii) non-disclosure of certain vital information, connect to each other and manifest that the accused persons are trying to conceal their criminal acts committed by them through a well-hatched conspiracy.
All the above-mentioned facts and circumstances sufficiently manifest the role of the Captain and other Company Officials in demonstrating a murder as natural death and in causing destruction of evidence through a well-hatched criminal conspiracy. To date, the company officials have not provided me with complete information regarding the functioning of the company and the details of the ship. They are just arm-twisting the facts and providing me selective information which they consider appropriate and which does not go against their interests.
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