Kannur (Kerala): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought information from the Kerala Government Railway Police regarding the train fire which charred one of the coaches of the infamous Alappuzha- Kannur executive express on Thursday.
While the probe is now being carried out by the Railway Police and the Kerala Police jointly, the NIA officials who are probing the previous arson attack on the same train which left three dead have sought information in the case to know establish the terror angle, if any, into the incident.
The forensic team have gathered evidences from the charred train and sniffer dogs were deployed in the site where the train was charred. The investigators are poring over the available evidence to clear the air on the sabotage angle, which the railway officials think might be the cause behind the incident.
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The incident occurred after all the passengers had alighted and therefore, no one was injured. Four fire tenders were pressed into service in the fire-fighting operations and the fire was completely doused by around 3.15 am. Preliminary investigations suggest that a man carrying a can was seen loitering near the train after all passengers detrained.
It is pertinent to note that the fuel storage of BPCL (Bharat petroleum corporation Limited) was merely 100 meters away from the fire spot. Officials say that a major accident has been avoided.
The train was stabled at Kannur railway station when the incident took place at around 1.25 am. According to railway officials, the fire erupted in the third coach from the Guard wagon. The fire almost ravaged the entire coach Sources said that no causality was reported in this incident.
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The Thursday incident took place on the same train in which three people including an infant died and nine others suffered injuries after a man identified as Shahrukh Saifi set afire co-passenger on board the train on April 2. Saifi was later arrested from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. The accused had burn marks on his face and body when he was arrested by the SIT.
Sources said that Shahrukh Saifi, a native of Shaheen Bagh of Delhi was nabbed on the basis of a bag left behind after the arson and the sketch made by the Kerala Police. The bodies of a woman, an infant, and a man, who fell off the train in their attempt to detrain after the fire ignited by the accused, were recovered from the tracks near the Elathur railway station.
The investigating team probing this fire incident pointed to the terrorist link in the incident saying that the accused Shahrukh Saifi was a highly radicalised person and had been motivated by the speeches of Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik.
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