Two Merchant Navy cadets charged with murder

New Delhi, Apr 17 (UNI) A city court today framed charges against two Merchant Navy cadets in a two-year-old murder case of their colleague and the Ship's Captain.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) K C Lohia framed charges against the two cadets -- Vivek Madhok,21, and Shankar Bhatia,20, in the murder of Rajan Aggarwal in 2004.

On April 4, 2004, Madhok and Bhatia murdered Aggarwal on the M V Crimson Galaxy ship while it was in mid Atlantic on way from Argentina to Egypt. The ship was carrying 20 million tonnes of soyabean for export to Brazil and had on board 50 people, including a 20-member all Indian crew, according to the prosecution.

The two suspects brutally murdered Aggarwal in his cabin and disposed of his body in the high seas, the prosecution said.

Aggarwal, a resident of Sheikh Sarai, New Delhi had joined the Merchant Navy in 1980. He joined the Hongkong-based shipping company M V Crimson Galaxy on January 19, 2004.

The complaint was lodged by Aggarwal's father in April 2004.

Madhok and Bhatia were charged under sections 302 (Murder), 201 (Destruction of Evidence) and 34 (Common intention to commit a crime) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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