Online Desk
The incident took place when the train reached the Korapuzha railway bridge after crossing Kozhikode city. The accused had escaped soon after the incident.
The bodies of a woman, her infant niece and a man, who went missing from the train after the fire, were recovered from the tracks near the Elathur railway station here, late on Sunday night.--- they are believed to have fallen off the train or attempted to get down after seeing the fire.
Some passengers who tried to douse the fire ended up with burn injuries as they couldn’t get their hands on enough materials to put it out.
The accused poured an inflammable liquid, believed to be petrol, on the passengers and set them on fire resulting in burn injuries to nine persons. Ruby remembers telling her husband Deepak Prakash that the assailant was spraying the liquid on everyone in the compartment, and that he didn’t seem to have any specific target.
On April 5, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested Noida's Shahrukh Saifi, the accused in the train arson attack case from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. The officials reached there based on a tip-off that he sought treatment at a hospital in Ratnagiri with injuries.
Meanwhile, Kozhikode Railway officials have said they will provide Railway Protection Force escort in selected mail, express, and passenger trains between 6 pm and 6 am, amongst other measures. But some facilities at the station are not being effectively used due to a lack of staff, officials told TNIE.