KOZHIKODE: The suspect in the Elathur train arson attack case Shahrukh Saifi (30), who was nabbed from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra late on Tuesday, was brought to a police camp in Maloorkunnu in Kozhikode on Thursday morning.
ADGP M R Ajith Kumar and North Zone IG Neeraj Kumar Gupta have reached the camp. Kozhikode City Police Commissioner Rajpal Meena has also come to the police camp. Accused Saifi, a native of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, will be questioned in detail here.
On April 2, the accused poured inflammable liquid on the passengers of the Alappuzha - Kannur Executive Express. Three died and eight people were injured in the attack. The investigation agencies, including Kerala police, Railway Police Force and Anti Terrorist Squad were in search for the accused based on the clues received from the bag spotted near the crime scene in Elathur.
Later the combined efforts of state-central investigation agencies were made to find the accused in northern states like UP and Delhi since the owner of the bag seemed to have north Indian links.
The accused was nabbed by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad on Tuesday late night in Ratnagiri following a tip-off that Shahrukh Saifi sought treatment at a hospital there for injuries.
The police team returned from Ratnagiri with Shahrukh Saifi on Wednesday afternoon and crossed the Kerala border at 1.05 am on Thursday. When they reached Kannur Melur at 3.35 am, the tire of the car they were travelling in got punctured. At 4.40 am, the accused was transferred to another vehicle and taken to Kozhikode. Then at 6.10, he was taken to the Maloorkunnu police camp.
The motive behind the attack, whether he got help from others to commit the crime, how he escaped after the incident, etc is yet to be found. Senior police officers will be in charge of the interrogation.
The three killed in the incident were Rahmath M (45) of Palottupalli, Mattannur in Kannur, her niece Sahara (2) and Noufeek (42) of Mattannur.
Flat tyre, and technical issue delayed the journey
KANNUR: Things have not gone smoothly for the police team which brought Shahrukh Saifi to Kozhikode, as their journey got halted twice due to unexpected events.
The team was stuck on the road for about an hour after the vehicle's tire got flat at Mammakkunnu near Kadachira, Kannur at around 3.35 am. The Edakkad police reached the spot and arranged another vehicle but the police team could not continue their journey, as the vehicle had some technical problems. Then, the police arranged a private vehicle for the team to continue their journey to Kozhikode at 4.30 am
It is said that the security arrangements made for the team were inadequate as there were only three members in the team who brought Shahrukh to Kerala and there were no other escorted vehicles to provide security.