Kerala train arson: Accused bought petrol at Palakkad's Shornur

Kerala train arson accused Shah Rukh Saifi got off the train at Shornur in Kerala's Palakkad district and hired an autorickshaw asking its driver to go to a petrol filling pump far away from the railway station. The accused bought petrol at a Shornoor pump and allegedly poured it on co-passengers inside the Alappuzha-Kannur Express Train on the night of April 2, leaving three dead and over nine injured.

Palakkad (Kerala) : In the Kerala train arson case, the Police got information about how the accused procured fuel to commit the offence. An autorickshaw driver helped the police to find the filling station where accused Shah Rukh Saifi bought petrol in the Elathur train arson case. The accused bought the fuel from the Shornur petrol pump and then went on to use it to set off fire in the moving train, sources said.

The autorickshaw driver recognised the accused Shah Rukh Saifi after the video footage of the latter's arrest came out on TV. The driver then told his friend about Shah Rukh getting into his auto and his friend informed the police about the matter. After this, the police gathered details from the auto driver and went to the Shornur petrol pump and checked the CCTV footage. From the footage, they confirmed that it was Shah Rukh Saifi who bought the fuel from that pump on that fateful day.

The Police further probed the matter and found out that the accused Shahrukh got off the train at Shornur, came out and hired an autorickshaw from the railway station. He instructed the auto driver to go to the petrol pump far away. It was one and a half kilometres away from the railway station. The accused avoided going to the nearby petrol pump. The police confirmed that Shah Rukh spent nearly 14 hours in Shornur.

Later, the suspect was caught and interrogated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police in the sensational train arson case in which the accused allegedly poured petrol on co-passengers inside the Alappuzha-Kannur Express Train on the night of April 2. The ghastly incident left three dead and over nine injured.