NEW DELHI: The Coast Guard today ordered a “board of inquiry” against its North West Region Chief of Staff DIG B K Loshali after finding his reply “unsatisfactory” to a showcause notice on his remarks that he had ordered blowing up of a Pakistani boat.
On Tuesday, Loshali had contradicted government’s claim that the crew on an intruding Pakistani boat had set it ablaze. Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, the Ministry and the Coast Guard had maintained that when the boat was chased by Coast Guard ships four men on board had set it ablaze.
“DIG B K Loshali was served a showcause notice on February 18. The reply to the notice has been received and is found to be unsatisfactory. Therefore, in accordance with the extant procedures a board of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the details and establish the facts,” the Coast Guard said in a release.
The Coast Guard also circulated a CD of the December 31 operation off the Porbandar coast among the journalists to back their claim that the boat was blown up by its Pakistani occupants.
It also said the Coast Guard stands by the information released to media by Ministry of Defense dated on January 2 and rejected various media interpretation on the issue of interception of the boat.
The Coast Guard said “suitable action will be taken on receipt of the proceedings of the Board of Inquiry”.
“Further it has also been established from the commanding officer of the coastguard ship Raj Ratan, involved in the operation on the night of December 31, 2014 that he had received no communication from DIG B K Loshali,” the release said. The 4.39-minute video clip circulated by the Coast Guard shows a boat in flames with smoke billowing and some unclear voices.
At one place a person can be heard saying, “Nahin pehchana hoga… pehchana toh hoga” (would not have identified…would have identified).
On February 18, Parrikar had said that his Ministry stands by the statement that an intruding Pakistani boat blew itself up off Porbandar coast on New Year eve and hinted at disciplinary action against Loshali who reportedly claimed that it was sunk by the force.
“Let me tell you. I hope you remember 31st December night. We blew off that Pakistan… We have blown them off. I was there at Gandhinagar and I told at night, blow the boat off. We don’t want to serve them biryani,” Loshali had said but later backtracked saying he was misquoted.–PTI
