Kochi Police Launch Probe After 'I Love Pakistan' Etching Found on Vessel at Cochin Shipyard

Police have launched an inquiry after a message reading "I Love Pakistan" was discovered etched inside a vessel that had arrived at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for maintenance, officials said on Thursday.

According to police sources, the inscription was noticed around 10 days ago by employees engaged in maintenance work on the vessel. The message was reportedly scratched onto an internal wall using a sharp object.

Kochi City Police Commissioner K. Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar confirmed that a complaint had been received from CSL and that an inquiry was underway.

"We are conducting an inquiry following the complaint from CSL. The investigation is going on," the commissioner said.

Sources said CSL's security wing carried out a preliminary probe before lodging a formal complaint with the police. Officials added that a case may be registered after the completion of the preliminary inquiry.

As part of the investigation, the Ernakulam Town South Police have recorded statements from employees involved in maintenance work on the vessel. Authorities are also examining registers and other records to determine who may have inscribed the message and when it was written.

The incident has drawn attention because CSL is regarded as a strategically important facility involved in the construction and maintenance of major naval assets, including warships and aircraft carriers for the Indian Navy.

The shipyard has previously faced security-related concerns. In an earlier case, computer equipment was stolen from the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant while it was under construction at the facility, with the accused later arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) . In separate incidents, former CSL workers were also arrested by various agencies, including the NIA, in espionage-related cases.

Officials stressed that the current inquiry is focused on identifying the person responsible for the inscription , and no conclusions have yet been drawn regarding the motive behind the message.