Kozhikode: The Kochi and Chennai units of National Investigation Agency (NIA) handed over a report on last Sunday's Elathur train fire incident, in which three people died and nine were injured, to the Centre. Manorama News said that the report states the possibility of terrorism links can't be disregarded. It said there was planning and conspiracy to execute the crime, and investigation on the same should be conducted outside Kerala too. The decision on whether NIA should take over the case will be arrived at after examining the report, according to Manorama News.
Meanwhile, accused Shahrukh Saifi demanded medical care on Sunday claiming that he was unwell. Police have requested Kozhikode Medical College to sent a doctor to Maloorkunnu police camp. The previously planned evidence collection will be held only after ascertaining his fitness, as per reports.
A few days ago, doctors had examined Saifi and said that burns on his body are less than one per cent and scratches are from the efforts to escape. They also had ruled him and healthy enough to be questioned in connection with the case.
The investigators were expected to start the evidence collection process at Shoranur, Elathoor and Kannur, from Sunday. The state police held three meetings with the NIA DIG on Saturday, and it is believed that NIA might take over the case this week.
What was Saifi doing during the daytime?
It was found that the accused spent a whole day in Shoranur after his arrival in Kerala on the Sampark Kranthi Express, which he boarded from Delhi on March 31.
He reached Shoranur railway station at 4.49 am on April 2. He bought four liters of petrol in three bottles from a fuel pump located just a km away from the railway station.
The Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express, in which the attack was carried out, arrived at the station at 7 pm on the same day. The train left the station at 7.19 pm.
The cops are investigating what he did and where he went the whole day. They have collected the CCTV footage from the railway station and the petrol pump.
Conspiracy angle
The lead received following inspection of Shahrukh’s mobile phone, chats on social media platforms, and bank account details point towards a conspiracy behind the attack, sources said.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has now concluded that Shahrukh, who had not visited the state earlier, received the help of certain people from within the state. For instance, police have found different handwritings in Shahrukh's book recovered from the crime scene.
The accused had written daily activities along with dates neatly in English.
However, someone else has written the names of certain places like Chirayinkeezhu, Kazhakoottam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kulachal, and Kanyakumari, sources said. The cops suspect that this might be the person who had suggested where all the attacks needed to be carried off.
Police also have to find how did the three people die during the incident.
NIA might take over the case
The Kerala SIT team has submitted the probe progress report to the NIA DIG. A decision to hand over the probe to the national anti-terror agency is being considered actively if the SIT fails up to come with substantiated leads before Monday.
Meanwhile, Shahrukh has stuck to his earlier statement that he poured petrol on passengers of a running train and setting them on fire alone.
The probe is progressing based on an assessment of other pieces of evidence.
It’s inferred that the accused had not received any training before the attack, and that’s why he too suffered burn injuries during the act. Police also probing whether this was an experimental act of terror carried out before a major attack.
Why Shoranur
Shoranur is one of the main parcel stations in Kerala and many vehicles arrive there daily with parcels. It’s normal for the drivers of these vehicles to buy petrol and diesel in bottles. This is why the accused could purchase fuel without raising any suspicion, sources point out.
The SIT officials’ assessment is that the accused, who had never visited the state before, wouldn’t have known this specialty of Shoranur and that is why they suspsect that he was aided by someone else.
The incident
On the night of April 2, the accused barged into the D1 compartment of the Executive Express around 9.17 pm, carrying petrol in a bottle. He poured the fuel on the passengers without any provocation and lit the fire when the train reached Korapuzha bridge near Elathur.
Nine people suffered burn injuries, while the bodies of a woman, an infant, and a man were recovered later from the tracks near Elathur. Police believe they fell off the train or jumped off it, seeing the fire. The accused absconded from the spot and was later arrested by the Maharashtra ATS from Ratnagiri on Tuesday.
