Jayalalithaa urges PM Modi to help bring home TN fisherman's body

CHENNAI: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct Union External Affairs Ministry to arrange for bringing back the body of a Tamil Nadu fisherman, allegedly shot dead by pirates off Bahrain.

In a letter to Modi, she said 21-year-old Antony Arul Anish hailing from a fishing hamlet in Kanyakumari district was working as a contract labourer in a fishing company based at Qatar.

"He was shot dead by sea pirates while fishing along with five other fishermen. The tragic incident occurred on the high seas off the coast of Bahrain," she said in her letter, copies of which were released to the media here today.

The body of the fisherman was now reportedly kept at a hospital in Bahrain, she said requesting the Prime Minister to direct Indian Embassies in Bahrain and Qatar to take urgent steps to arrange for the transportation of the body to Tamil Nadu at the earliest.

She also sought steps to ensure that the terminal monetary benefits due to him are released to his family without delay.

The poor, innocent fisherman had gone to Qatar as a fishing labourer on contract and his family had been traumatised by the loss of their sole bread winner, she said.