THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India — An Indian court Saturday denied bail to two Italian sailors charged with the murder at sea of two Indian fishermen they mistook for pirates, hours after Rome recalled its ambassador from New Delhi in an increasingly surly diplomatic row.

The court rejected the bail pleas on grounds the two men might try to escape, said a public prosecutor in the southern state of Kerala, where the men are detained.

“The judge accepted the prosecution’s apprehension that the accused may escape from the country and tamper with the evidence,” D. Mohanraj, a prosecutor handling the case, told Reuters. A lawyer for the defense said they would appeal.

In a further escalation of the spat, India’s ambassador in Italy was summoned to the foreign ministry which “firmly signalled the unacceptable judicial developments related to the Italian sailors,” the minstry said in a statement.

India says the case of marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone is a matter for the courts and cannot be influenced by political or diplomatic pressure.

Italy wants the men tried at home and says the government should intervene.

Italy called back its ambassador for consultations shortly after murder charges were formalized Friday to express “profound displeasure” with the Indian government’s handling of the case.

“We are sending a strong signal to avoid damaging our relationship,” said Italy’s deputy foreign minister, Staffan de Mistura, on his third mission to India to push for the sailors to be released into Italian custody. — Reuters