4 Fishermen Detained in Sri Lanka Return, Recall Bitter Experience

 Kakinada: Four fishermen – K. Srinu Venkateswar, Karri Nookaraju Borriya, Chanda Nageswara Rao and Patandi Brahmanandam of Kakinada – detained in Jaffna Jail in Sri Lanka for 52 days, returned home on Tuesday.

Kakinada MLA Vanamadi Venkateswara Rao (Kondababu), MLC Karri Padmasri and Kakinada MP Tangella Uday Srinivas received them at the Indian Coast Guard office.

The fishermen had sailed into the sea to Nagapattinam to purchase a fishing trawler on August 8. The Sri Lankan Coast Guard authorities detained them saying they had entered their territory. The release of fishermen from their detention came soon after intervention of the NDA alliance government and efforts of MPs Uday Srinivas and S. Satish, apart from officials of the Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka.

According to the four fishermen, they underwent a bitter experience in the Jaffna Jail. Brahmanandam said they had remained three kilometres short of the Sri Lankan sea waters, yet the country’s Coast Guard detained and took them to a court in Sri Lanka, which remanded them to custody in Jaffna Jail. The detainees said they faced a lot of hardships with regard to food, accommodation and language issues.

Nookaraju said some officials from the Indian embassy came to them, spoke to the jail authorities in Tamil Language, and provided a phone to them. This helped them speak to their family members here. Subsequently, the NDA alliance government got them released. Otherwise, they would have continued to languish in the Jail.

The fishermen performed Abhishekam to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s photo with milk on the occasion.