Zee Media Bureau/Tarun Khanna
New Delhi: In retaliation over the trial of two Italian marines in India, a live bullet and hate mails were dropped in the mailbox of Indian embassy in Rome on Friday, a foreign ministry source said.
Calling the incident a matter of grave concern, Indian mission has asked Italy to beef up security around the embassy. “We have escalated the matter to the Italy authorities and hope that necessary steps would be taken on this issue soon,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.
A couple of days back, the Italian government had summoned the Indian ambassador to discuss concerns over the delay in court proceedings against the two marines in New Delhi which has heightened tensions between the two nations.
Akbaruddin also said that talks are going on to resolve the matter between the two countries.
The Supreme Court, earlier in the week, had asked the Centre to file an affidavit on its final decision on contentious anti-piracy charges against two Italian marines, arrested for allegedly killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast two years ago.
Italy has strongly protested against India over slapping the provisions of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf (SUA) Act against the marines, asserting that these provisions are slapped against pirates and its marines are not pirates.
