Arvinder's Delhi-based Sarab Consulate Marine Products Pvt Ltd has also left three trawlers anchored in the Murmagao Port Trust (MMPT) harbour, piling up dues even as every attempt by the MMPT to trace the businessman has failed.

The vessels, abandoned three years ago, have sunk four metres and are a danger to smaller fishing vessels, port trust officials say.

Besides, the MMPT and the Income-Tax (I-T) Department are anxious to recover dues amounting to more than Rs 2,50,000 but letters to the company were re-routed in March and the company's telephones disconnected, a senior MMPT official told The Indian Express.

Taking advantage of the then liberalised rules permitting foreign trawler owners to operate off the Indian coast in partnership with local companies, ArvinderSingh hired three trawlers -- Aries, Arat and Vega -- in September 1993, staffed by Russian crews.

However, the fishing venture ran aground just two years later and all fishing activity ceased in November 1995. In April 1996, the trawlers dropped anchor in the port, when the company ran out of fuel.

The MMPT took up the matter with Arvinder, who was then operating out of Goa, and were told that he would provide manpower and fuel for the vessels to meet any emergency.

But shortly thereafter, the vessels' owners stopped paying salaries and the crew abandoned the trawlers, MMPT officials say. Some of them even filed complaints with the Mercantile Marine Department, alleging that the owners had denied them water for their daily needs. Finally, all three trawlers were abandoned.

A couple of months later, all three trawlers were plundered by vandals, who stripped them of vital equipment. The vessels sprung leaks and slowly sunk several metres in anchorage.

Subsequently, Arvinder and the agent handling thetrawlers in the state, one Pawan Aurora, left Goa without a forwarding address, port trust officials claim. The duo also allegedly ignored a notice issued by the MMPT which required them to furnish a security deposit for Rs 80 lakh to ensure that the trawlers would be raised and removed without delay.

During the same period, the I-T Department directed the MMPT not to move the vessels without its prior permission as the I-T authorities were investigating various properties belonging to the directors of Sarab Consulate Marine Products.

The I-T authorities also declared their intention to seize the vessels as the company had failed to explain the source of its funds used to acquire them. MMPT sources say the I-T Department's order still holds good as it has not been withdrawn.

The company also stopped paying port dues to the MMPT in mid-1996. The dues cover berth hire, anchorage charges, water supply charges, among other things. Its total outstandings with the MMPT till August 1997 amounted to more thanRs 2,50,000.

``After that, we stopped billing the company as it did not respond to our queries,'' an MMPT official told this paper. It has also ignored all notices issued by the port trust asking it to refloat its vessels.

Arvinder Singh, however, spoke to our correspondent in New Delhi, saying he had not received any notice from the MMPT asking him to retrieve the trawlers from the port. However, Singh admitted that the three fishing trawlers had been put out of operation a couple of years ago ``due to the non-viability of the deep sea fishing project off the Goa coast.''

He, however, described as ``totally false'' the claims of the MMPT that he had disappeared without a trace. He also denied receiving any notice from the port authorities regarding payment of dues and the deteriorating condition of the vessels.

Pawan Kumar, a director of Arvinder's firm, and also a close relative of Buta Singh, claimed the deep sea fishing project, for which the three trawlers were hired, was a ``joint venture'' witha Russian company.

``The permission for the licence was obtained from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the vessels and crew were provided by the Russians. When the operations stopped due to non-viability and a local agitation, the vessels were docked and the crew left,'' he said.

He could not, however, explain why the company had not withdrawn its vessels till date.