INS Sindhuratna fire: SC dismisses PIL seeking court-monitored probe

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seeking a court-monitored probe into the fire tragedy in Indian Navy submarine INS Sindhuratna and a compensation of Rs 1 crore each for relatives of the two naval officers who died in the incident. A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha declined to pass any direction on the petition which claimed the officers died allegedly due to technical and maintenance failure of batteries in the submarine. [caption id=“attachment_1509619” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP.[/caption] The petition had sought a court-monitored probe to ascertain whether there was a timely provision of batteries and other safety equipment. The PIL, filed by advocates Subrata Das and N Rajaraman, had also sought a direction for producing the communication between the Defence Ministry and the Navy Command relating to the maintenance of submarines, particularly Sindhuratna. Seven sailors were also injured when fire had erupted on board Sindhuratna around 40 nautical miles off Mumbai on February 26. Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi resigned taking moral responsibility for the incident. The Navy had said human miscalculation led to the fire that broke out in cables on the submarine. The probe had mentioned a deviation from standard operating procedure. The PIL had sought the court’s direction to the Defence Ministry to submit the status report on the action taken by it on the requisitions concerning repairs and replacement of safety equipment of the armed forces. PTI