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Tradewinds

The vessel was under arrest in Calcutta when GMS bought it to sell on to Jain for demolition. The ship was said to have been arrested after its Turkish owner, Lima Shipping, filed for bankruptcy last year. Jain, however, was refused delivery of the vessel pending payments of all dues and claims.

Jain cried foul as it had already made payments to GMS. It rushed to a Calcutta court to get an intervention and justice.

The West Bengal state authorities dispatched a battery of police last week to Bhavnagar, the city in western India that is the gateway to Alang, to arrest Komal Sharma and bring him to Calcutta.

However, soon after the police took Sharma into custody, a group of Alang workers loyal to the GMS partner allegedly attacked the police vehicle carrying Sharma. A couple of officers suffered minor injuries from the incident. In the chaos that followed, Komal Sharma is said to have escaped and, according to the police, he is now "absconding".

Sharma is the brother of well-known US-based cash buyer Anil Sharma. Together, the two brothers own GMS, which has offices in the US and Bhavnagar.

TradeWinds contacted Komal Sharma over his mobile phone. Sharma said the entire episode was "motivated" by cash buyers who could not compete with GMS.

He told TradeWinds that GMS controls 60% of the scrapping market in terms of supply of vessels to Indian breakers and he said "obviously a lot of people are jealous".

Sharma claims that GMS has offered to resolve the issue with Jain "amicably" but the Calcutta purchaser is not interested in any settlement.

JK Jain of Jain Udyog says his company is only interested in "justice" and "the vessel". The ship is lying under arrest at the Calcutta port, he added.

Jain denies Sharma´s charge that the move to go to the police was "motivated". He calls the suggestion "bakwas", which translates as "a heap of lies".

GMS says it took over the vessel with all claims and paid claimants to free it. The cash buyer says that it even got the vessel re-registered in St Vincent to ensure its safety. The vessel was only sold to Jain for scrap, "free of maritime liens and any the debts".

GMS alleges that the vessel is not being released because a sister vessel, the Lima II, was also arrested in Kandla in western India but managed to sail off.

GMS says that under Indian Admiralty Law a sistership can be arrested in such a case. GMS says it is considering appealing to the Indian Supreme Court on the issue.

Meanwhile, the Bhavnagar police say that the West Bengal police have joined in the hunt for Komal Sharma.

Sharma´s lawyers are reportedly busy trying to obtain an intervention by a local court to avert his arrest.