'Sailor fell off the deck while urinating'

Say Yellow Gate police about the mysterious disappearance of radio officer Debashish Dey. Questions still remain

THE Yellow Gate police has, much to the consternation of other sailors, attributed last week's mysterious disappearance of radio officer Debashish Dey (30) to falling over the deck while answering nature's call.


Although the police says that Debashish Dey's disappearance was due to a mishap, insiders attribute
it to something murkier

Senior Inspector S R Naik told MiD DAY that Dey fell off the ship while urinating from the deck. "It is a common mishap," he told this reporter.

However, there are several unanswered questions. If the radio officer fell off the deck around 5.30 pm on February 13, why did it take the captain of the ship three hours to launch a search and rescue operation?

Also, why was the crew of the vessel changed the same evening?

Insiders told MiD DAY that not only was Shivam's crew not questioned, but the vessel was also allowed to sail back towards Bombay High on Saturday evening.u00a0

They said enough evidence was not collected to present a watertight case. "It may be an effort to pass of the case as an accident," said a sailor.

The theory doing the rounds among those in the know is that Dey could have been drugged as he was not conniving with other crew members to siphon off diesel to the oil mafia.

An overdose of sleeping pills could have proved too much for the radio officer. Insiders said the crew of a ship generally laces the drinks of dissenters who do not wish to be part of the dieselu00a0smuggling syndicate so that they can carry on their illegal activity while the officer is unconscious.