Boat owner found guilty in Thattekad boat tragedy

Kochi, Jul 25 (UNI) A lower court here today found P M Raju, the owner and driver of the boat 'Shivaranjini' involved in the Thattekad tragedy in which 18 people were killed in February last year, guilty under Section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

Additional Sessions Judge P Sharangdharan will pronounce the sentence tomorrow.

The prosecution had alleged that the accused had permitted 61 people to board on the boat which had the permit to carry only six passengers.

Fifteen students and three teachers of St Antony's Upper Primary School, Elavoor, near Angamaly, died when the country boat capsized in Thattekad Lake on February 20, 2007 due to over loading.

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