The Coast Guard and the Navy, meanwhile, have been “instructed” to look for more boats and small crafts in the area, since at least one more boat like Kuber was likely to have been put to use. “The Kuber ferried only eight of them so a second boat must have ferried the remaining,” the source said.

However, investigations are still on into the apparent contradictions surrounding the Kuber’s exact role.

The cops are looking at three crucial leads: One, Customs records say the Kuber left for the high seas from Porbandar on November 13 but locals have told the cops they saw Kuber leave the next day. Two, Kuber’s reported multiple ownership, and, three, the boat had sophisticated VHF and GPS systems on it and yet did not attempt even once to contact Indian security agencies if it was indeed hijacked.

A senior Gujarat police officer said Customs records indeed said it had left on November 13 but if as local fishermen said, it left on November 14, it could even mean that the Kuber returned discreetly to Porbandar after leaving port on November 13 — as per official records — and then went on another journey a day later.

Kuber (registration number 2302) was registered in the name of a resident of Kharvawad in Porbandar, Vinod Masani. Masani, sources added, owns five more fishing boat, including the two that had been seized by Pakistani agencies earlier for trespassing into their waters.

Masani’s brother, Hiralal, holds the power of attorney over Kuber. Hiralal, in turn, passed on the rights to a sub-contractor (name kept anonymous). It was this sub contractor who used to employ crew in Kuber, sources said.

... contd.