Amarshi Solanki's second stint as tandel changed his family's life. The Solankis built a pucca house in 2007, which today consists of four rooms.
"He called us sometime on November 14 or 15 (this contradicts newspaper reports that Amarshi Solanki left Porbunder on November 13, the very day he returned from a previous fishing trip)," Dilip says, unable to recall the exact date and time when he and his mother heard Amarshi's voice for the last time.
"He spoke with my mother first, asked about our well-being, then he spoke with me for two minutes," Dilip says, adding "there is no mobile network when one goes fishing so he would always call us before leaving from his mobile phone."
"Yes, the Kuber did leave on the very night it came back from fishing," says a customs officer at Porbunder, requesting that he not be named for this report. The officer did not let us photograph the document that logged the Kuber's arrival and departure on November 13.
"The Customs department maintains a log of arrival and departure of all the ships that leave and arrive in Porbunder on any given day," he adds. Most tandels take a break for a couple of days between two fishing trips. This immediate trip on the night of November 13 -- coupled with his stay in a Karachi prison for 14 months where it is being alleged that he was brainwashed to work against India -- is what has raised much speculation.
Image: Dilip Solanki, outside his home in Diu.
Also see: Diary of an eyewitness
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