Madurai: The Madras High Court bench here today dismissed bail petitions of all the crew members of a US ship, arrested on charges of illegally carrying weapons on board the vessel and straying into Indian waters, stating the probe was in the initial stage and if they were released on bail, it could affect the investigation.
Justice M Sathyanarayanan said the petitioners did not provide sufficient documents to justify that they could be released on bail.
The 35 crew members of the ship MV Seeman Ohio were arrested on October 18 by Tamil Nadu police after it was intercepted by Coast Guard. They were booked under Arms Act and Essential Commodities Act.
The ship crew was also accused of illegal purchase of diesel from local agents.
The Judge, however, granted conditional bail to V Selvam, who was arrested along with five others for illegally providing 1500 litres of diesel to the ship.
