Kozhikode: When Kerala Police -- investigating the arson attack on the Executive Express -- were rifling through a bag found near the Elathur rail line, the suspect now identified as Shahrukh Saifi (30) was well on his way to Ajmer in another train.
But a fall from the train cut short his journey and led to his chance arrest, said Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which apprehended him in Ratnagiri district.
On April 3, Saifi, a native of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, was found unconscious near the railway track on the Konkan line by residents of Khed taluk in Ratnagiri district, ATS deputy inspector general (DIG) Mahesh Patil told Onmanorama. The residents took him to a primary health centre in Khed, said the officer.
But Saifi's injuries were grave and the primary health centre transferred him to the Civil District Hospital in Ratnagiri, Patil said. "All this happened on April 3, hours after the attack on the train in Kozhikode and no one knew he was a suspect in any case," said the DIG.
But in the intervening night of April 3 and April 4, Saifi gained consciousness and fled from the hospital and he was not traceable.
"By the morning of April 4, we got information that the Kerala Police were looking for Saifi and Intelligence reported that someone fitting the description had fled from the Civil Hospital in Ratnagiri," Patil said.
The Maharashtra ATS swung into action and sent a team to the district. Around 11.30 pm, the officers picked up Saifi from Ratnagiri railway station.
"When we questioned him, he confessed to the crime but did not tell us why he did it," said the officer.
Maharashtra ATS chief Sadanand Date said he had handed over Saifi to Kerala Police. "Only their investigation could reveal the motive behind the attack," he told Onmanorama.
Meanwhile, Kerala Police's investigating officers knocked on the doors of Saifi's house Shaheen Bagh in Delhi and found that he had been missing from there since March 31.
According to reports, his father told the Kerala Police team that Saifi left home looking for a job on March 31 and did not return. His phone was also switched off.
On April 2, Saifi's father filed a missing man complaint with Delhi Police.
Kerala Police had initially suspected that Saifi was a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh after finding a SIM-less mobile phone in the bag found near the railway tracks at Elathur on the outskirts of Kozhikode.
Based on the inputs, Uttar Pradesh ATS had detained a namesake Shahrukh Saifi, who also happened to be a carpenter. He was let off after hours of questioning.
Kerala Anti-Terrorist Squad chief P Vijayan told onmanorama.com that the investigation was still at a nascent stage. "It is too early to share anything concrete with the media," he said.
Nine persons suffered burn injuries and three persons, including a toddler, were killed in the arson attack on Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express on the night of April 2.
