Indian sailor Captain Sunil James released from Togo prison : Foreign ministry

New Delhi – Indian sailor Captain Sunil James, who had been jailed in Togo in July, has been released and is expected to reach India by Friday, sources in the external affairs ministry said on Thursday.

India was in touch with Togo authorities to secure on compassionate ground the release of the sailor whose family wanted him to conduct the last rites of his 11-month-old son Vivaan.

Indian officials from Accra had met the sailor recently and had been pursuing the case of his release with the authorities there.

James has been released along with another sailor Vijayan, the sources said, adding he is expected to return home by tomorrow.

He was under arrest in the west African country since July on the charge of aiding pirates who had attacked and looted his Marshall Islands-flagged MT Ocean Centurion on July 16.

The sailor’s 31-year-old wife Aditi and others in the family wanted James to conduct the last rites of his son whose body is lying in a hospital morgue since the toddler’s death from septicaemia on December 2.

It was reported that the infant, Vivaan, underwent an operation for intestinal gangrene but doctors could not save him as the infection had spread to his bloodstream.

The family of Captain James thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the release came as a huge relief to them.