MALAPPURAM: Officials of the Port Department, who were arrested today in relation to the Tanur boat disaster, have been charged with murder. Port Conservator and Surveyor were arrested by the police on Tuesday morning. The action was taken after it was found that the Conservator made an unauthorized intervention for the boat owner and the Surveyor did not carry out proper safety checks. The two were arrested by the Special Investigation Team. The government had appointed a judicial commission headed by Justice VK Mohanan to investigate the accident.

The High Court had directed the government to prepare a comprehensive report on the Tanur boat accident. The court had directed that the Chief Secretary should appoint a senior officer for this. Senior officials of the concerned departments should be assigned to assist this senior officer.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice SVN Bhatti and Justice Basant Balaji also directed that the report should include the standards adopted to avoid such tragic incidents. The court issued directions in the suo moto action it took following the Tanur boat tragedy on May 7.