Bhatkal: The body of Moulvi Ismail Ruknuddin, who had drowned on Jaali Beach yesterday evening, was recovered on the same place today evening after a long wait and lot of efforts.

A huge crowd had gathered the Jaali beach to witness the same. It has been reported that two boats were arranged by the Majilis Islah-O-Tanzeem with the help of Coastal Security Police and the local fishermen for the task of tracing the body.

The search mission with boats began at around 3pm from Murdeshwar. At around 4.30 pm, the boat belonging to Mr. Ahmed Potkar from Tengungundi succeeded in tracing the body. It is said that as soon as this particular boat reached the Jaali coast and began the search, the body became visible at the depth of the sea. Mr. Ahmed Saheb Potkar, Mr. Shahul Hameed Potkar, Mr. Abdul Qadir Faqeerah and Mr. Tabrez Jafri dived into the sea and completed the task of getting the body out of water.





The body was taken to the Government Hospital for postmortem on a private vehicle and was later handed over to the family.





The funeral prayers were performed at the Shareef Hilal Masjid Magdoom Colony both after Magrib and Isha prayers due to a big crowd and the burial took place at the Magdoom Colony graveyard.


Protest by the local public

The enraged people encircled the Bhatkal Coastal Security police station on Friday morning alleging that the coastal security was far behind from helping the people of Bhatkal at the time of need. People claimed that the Govt has sanctioned a high speed boat for people’s safety at the time of crisis. But on Thursday, the repeated calls to Coastal Security received no response for more than two hours when an incident of a person drowning into the sea took place. People blamed the police saying that their timely help could have possibly saved the person, whose body was yet to be traced at the time and the local youths were struggling for the same.





Later, the people also approached the JDS leader Inayatulla Shabandari at his house at Bhatkal and asked him to talk to the SP and higher authorities about the negligence of Bhatkal coastal security police at the time of need. It was learnt that Inayatullah Shabandri discussed the issue with the Karwar SP Balakrishna, and Mr.Balakrishna told him that the Govt had not yet given any instructions to the coastal security police to use the high speed boat which had been provided for the cause. So the coastal police were helpless to make any use of the boat. SP said that all the boats were lying idle on the ground and were waiting for the Govt orders to run.

Such a reply from the Karwar SP left the public unsatisfied and so they later approached the Bhatkal Tanzeem to seek help. They urged that the Tanzeem should arrange high speed boat for the safety of people. Protestors said that there have been repeated incidents of deaths due to drowning almost every month at the beaches of Murdeshawar, Bhatkal and nearby areas, but there were no safety measures of any kind for the same. So our social organization should take the initiative to provide all kind of help to save the people at the time of emergency without looking at any cast and creed. People forced the Tanzeem members that they should come forward to handle the situation.

Many NRI's who were present during the protest said that they were ready to finance for the cause and help the Tanzeem provide the high speed boats for public safety.