KOZHIKODE: As soon as the Kerala police team transporting Delhi resident Shahrukh Saifi, the accused in Sunday’s train arson attack, reached the state’s borders the force moved into stealth mode -- to secure the lone accused and avoid the prying eyes of the media.
The accused was brought to the Armed Reserve Camp in Maloorkunnu, Kozhikode from Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri on Thursday. The police team took different routes to reach the city. Later, deceptive tactics were employed to move the accused to the forensic surgeon’s office for medical inspection, instead of the new casualty wing of the medical college hospital (MCH).
Local police stations were not notified nor was a pilot vehicle dispatched, as is usually the case when the accused in an important case is being transported. The group travelled in an Innova car to Thalappady, on the Kerala-Karnataka border. Later, in order to avoid media teams that were following the police vehicle, they took the Mammakunnu-Dharmadam route from Kannur.
A high-level police meeting was held in the morning, chaired by ADGP Ajith Kumar, in the run-up to the questioning of the accused. North Zone IG Neeraj Kumar Gupta and Kozhikode police commissioner Rajpal Meena also attended the meeting and later were part of the interrogation.
As mediapersons waited outside the police camp in Maloorkunnu from the morning for information on the handover of the accused and further procedures, a van was seen leaving the police camp for the MCH.
Mediapersons got wind that the accused was being taken for medical examination, but it eventually turned out that he was not even in the vehicle. Subsequently, around 11.20 am the accused was taken directly to the forensic surgeon’s office near the MCH mortuary.
The medical examination took more than two hours and it was determined that the suspected injuries the accused sustained during the arson attack and the subsequent events that led to his capture were not serious.
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