[07^th March 2023] Mrs Jaya, wife of Shanmukha Rama Manikanta Kumar Kollati, based in Vishakhapatnam, is desperately looking out for help to trace her missing husband, amidst hearsay of his detention in Senegal.

According to Jaya, her husband Shanmukha, a law-abiding seafarer of several years, is a third officer onboard M.V. Asso-6 with IMO No. 7946875 sailing under the Togo flag, since December 2020. He was to sign off and reach home in the month of June 2021, but has yet not returned and its learnt was not paid his dues either.

At first she called up the agency to find that the company had abandoned the crew some two years back. With all her untiring efforts recently this year, she happened to get a message from one of the crewmate’s family that 4 Indians on ASSO-6 had been arrested on June 6, 2021, and are in the custody of Senegal law enforcement authorities as drugs had been found in the ship’s cargo compartment.

Shocked by the news she started digging for the truth, initially calling the agency who soon stopped answering her calls for reasons best known to them.

Narrating her incident, Jaya said: “As soon as I received the message, I was totally shocked, and I contacted my husband’s recruitment agent M/s. Shripal Forex Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai. Shripal Forex is managed by Mr. Vivek, the recruiting agent who took Rupees 1,50,000/- as service charges to place him onboard and then after initial calls has stopped responding.”

She then sent an email to the Indian Embassy in Senegal seeking their help. In two days, the Embassy replied that the 4 Indian crew onboard the ship are in custody in Senegal, and they will try to speak to them through a counselor. Thereafter she has not received any information at all.”

Not only is Jaya struggling back home to make both ends meet, her seafarer husband, then onboard without being paid his salary went through utter despair. Jaya added, “I learned gradually that my husband was not receiving his wages. They paid him only one month’s salary that too after requesting several times. In the month of February 2021 when he demanded his salary the captain told him that the ship would be scrapped in a month or two and when the ship reached Alang for breaking, the salary would be settled in full.

“When this did not happen, again Shanmukha insisted on his salary. He explained to the captain that his family was struggling without money. Again the captain assured him that the ship would soon go for scrapping after 1-2 voyages. My husband kept on protesting for his salary and he informed me that they were delaying the payment of wages. My husband finally requested one of his friends in India to send me some money and he would repay as soon as he got his salary.”

Jaya is sure that her husband is innocent and wouldn’t know anything about drugs that were part of the cargo and he has been cheated and trapped by the agent who placed him on board. She is looking for assistance from the Indian government so that her husband can come back to India at the soonest.

Marex Media