The Kerala High Court today admitted a petition filed by the Italian Government seeking to quash the FIR against two of its naval personnel, arrested in connection with the recent shooting to death of two Indian fishermen off
the state coast. 

The petition filed by Italian Consul General in Mumbai Gian Paolo Cutillo and the two accused -- Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone -- also sought a stay on all further proceedings in the case against the two marines, arrested in connection with the February 15 incident.

They submitted that Kerala Police has no authority to conduct investigation in the case and courts in India have no jurisdiction as the incident occurred beyond the Indian territorial waters.

Justice P S Gopinathan, before whom the petition came up, asked the Consul General's counsel why they were not cooperating with the investigation.  "Why don't you cooperate with the investigation?," court asked the counsel. The counsel responded, saying the Kerala police had no jurisdiction to investigate the case.