Government may move Supreme Court as Italian witnesses refuse to return

NEW DELHI: The government could soon lodge a complaint with the Supreme Court that refusal of four Italian marines to come and appear as witnesses before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is delaying the ongoing murder probe against two of their compatriots here.

The step is being contemplated as the government fears facing the apex court’s wrath in the matter since the court had earlier this March pressed for the case to be expedited and asked for a special court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis after the charge-sheet is filed. The government had then claimed that the entire legal process could be over in a couple of months. However, the NIA, which filed an FIR on April 4, is nowhere close to concluding the probe even after five months and the fasttrack trial is still a far cry.

The NIA wants four Italian marines to depose before them in India. These men who were onboard ‘ Enrica Lexie’ when their colleagues, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen Ajesh Binki and Jelestine on February 15, 2012 off the coast in Kerala.

The four marines have, however, refused to travel to India. A senior Union law ministry official, who was not willing to be identified, told ET that the government plans to soon apprise the apex court of the situation and seek orders on the future course of action. “The ministry of external affairs has again been asked to impress upon Italy the importance of these four witnesses to the NIA probe and the agreement between India and Italy to cooperate in the matter,” the official said.

The four marines had told the NIA that they were ready to appear through video conferencing, face aNIA team if it visits Italy or even reply to investigators if they send them written questions, but none of the proposals was acceptable to the NIA which maintains that the marines come back to testify before them as well as in the trial.

“We will leave to the court’s to decide the way ahead – whether an NIA team should visit Italy to speak to the four witnesses, or Italian government be ordered to produce them in India or NIA be asked to go ahead with a charge-sheet without taking into account the witnesses.

The government wants to make it clear that it is Italy that is delaying the probe and the consequent trial,” a government official said.