KANNUR: In a case of suspected sabotage, an empty bogie of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express parked at Kannur railway station was gutted in the early hours of Thursday. One person has been taken into custody in connection with the incident. He is being interrogated by railway police.
Incidentally, this is the same train that was involved in the April 2 Elathur arson attack.
According to railway officials, the train from Alappuzha reached Kannur station around 11.45 pm on Wednesday.
Around 1.30 am, one of the workers on duty at the station saw smoke billowing from the third coach from the rear of the train that was parked at platform number 3 of the station. Soon, the fire engulfed the entire coach. On being alerted by station master S Sajith Kumar, three fire force units from Kannur arrived at the scene and doused the fire after a nearly 45-minute effort. However, the bogie was gutted by then.
Later, the police got hold of CCTV visuals showing a person, carrying a container, entering the empty coach of the train in the wee hours. Based on the footage and the statements of some employees of the nearby BPCL depot, the police took a West Bengal native into custody from the station precincts.
Kannur fire incident: NIA seeks details
The BPCL employees, who were on night duty, had told the police that they saw a person under mysterious circumstances on the station premises. The railway police said the West Bengal native taken into custody resembled the person seen in the CCTV visuals.
The same person had earlier set fire to the bushes on the Kannur University campus and at Thavakkara.
Railway officials said a major tragedy was averted as there is a large fuel tank of the BPCL just 100 metres from the railway station.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought details of the Kannur incident from the railway police to check whether the latest incident is in any way connected to the April 2 Elathur arson attack, in which the accused, Delhi native Shahrukh Saifi, sprayed petrol on the passengers and set fire to the coach.