LUCKNOW: Two officers of Railway Police Force (RPF) reached Noida and Ghaziabad, on Tuesday, in search of the suspect of the Kozhikode train fire incident.
While the law enforcement agencies, including the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and UP ATS, had been looking for him since Sunday, police have released a sketch of the suspect made from witness accounts to identify him.
Earlier in the day, sources had claimed that a person – Shahrook Saifi-- suspected to be prime accused, was taken into custody by the Ghaziabad wing of UP ATS but later in the day, UP ATS chief Naveen Arora denied it.
It may be recalled that on Sunday, a man allegedly set on fire a co-passenger, onboard Alappuzha Kannur Main Executive Express train when it reached the Korapuzha railway bridge after crossing Kozhikode city in Kerala at around 9:45 pm.
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 dead were found on the tracks near the Elathur railway station in Kozhikode. According to police sources, the three deceased either fell off the train or jumped into panic due to the incident. According to sources, suspect Shahrookh Saifi has addresses in both Noida and Haryana.
Adding to the suspense, there are reports that the suspect had reached Kerala only recently.
However, the probe agencies are focusing on his background to ascertain his motive. As per the sources, the NIA team, including a Superintendent of Police-level officer, inquired about the train's D1 compartment which was set ablaze by the unidentified person. However, it is yet to be declared a terror act.