KOZHIKODE: A day after a man set passengers on fire on the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express, evidence gathered by police so far indicate that the assailant is a native of Noida in Uttar Pradesh, who had arrived in Kerala recently.
Three persons died — a man, a woman and a two-and-a-half-year-old child — when they apparently jumped off the train on seeing the arson attack in the D1 coach of the train after it passed the Elathur station on Sunday night. The assailant entered the compartment with two bottles of petrol and splashed the contents on passengers before setting them on fire. He escaped from the spot soon after the attack. Eight persons, who sustained burn injuries, are undergoing treatment in various hospitals, One of them is still in critical condition.
The police suspect the assailant to be ‘Sharukh Saifi’, which was scribbled on a notebook recovered from a bag — suspected to be that of the attacker — spotted on the railway track. The bag contained a mobile phone with no SIM card, a few items of clothing and some food items. Sources said the phone was switched off a few days ago in Delhi. The police also released a sketch of the suspect based on inputs from passengers in the compartment.
Meanwhile, the state government has constituted an 18-member special investigation team headed by P Vikraman, SP, crime branch, Malappuram. Central agencies are also keeping a watchful eye on the investigation as the terror angle to the whole episode has not been ruled out. The motive of the arsonist remains a mystery.
According to some media reports, ‘Sharukh Saifi’ was taken into custody from Kannur after he visited the government district hospital to receive treatment for burns sustained during the attack. But the police asserted that no person has been apprehended.
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State police chief Anil Kant told reporters in Kannur that the force has received some crucial information about the attacker. They are trying to ‘decipher’ the writings, including some names, in the notebook recovered from the bag.
ADGP Ajith Kumar to supervise investigation
‘Sharukh Carpenter’ is written at various places in the book along with other names. The notebook includes entries on routine activities.
The police had earlier released CCTV footage of the alleged suspect, in which a person wearing a red shirt was seen waiting for a two-wheeler, who was later seen leaving riding pillion. But after verification, it was ascertained that the person in the footage was a student, who was en route to catch a train to Mangaluru.
The 18-member special probe team includes Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) DySP Byju Poulose, Kozhikode Assistant Commissioner P Bijuraj and Tanur DySP V V Benny and inspectors and sub-inspectors from various stations. Vikraman had served with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Kochi and was a member of the team that probed many terrorism-related incidents including the Kashmir recruitment case. ADGP (Law and Order) Ajith Kumar will supervise the investigation.
Turn of events
9.27 pm (Sunday): Kannur-Alappuzha Executive Express approaches Elathur railway station, heads towards Korapuzha bridge
9.28 pm: A man wearing a red shirt and cap, and carrying a bag and 2 bottles of petrol in hand enters
D1 coach of train
9.29 pm: He splashes petrol on passengers and sets them on fire. Panic ensues, 8 suffer burns
9.32 pm: One of the passengers pulls the chain and the train halts on the Korapuzha bridge. The man escapes. Rescue work begins and 8 injured were shifted to hospitals
12.30 am (Monday): Loco pilot of another train informs the police about the presence of the bodies of a man, woman, and two-and-a-half-year-old girl child on the track between Korapuzha bridge and Elathur station
1 am: As cops try to locate bodies, they spot a bag, suspected to be that of the assailant. Half a bottle of petrol, notebook, spectacles, a mobile phone and clothes were recovered from the bag.