Kozhikode/Coimbatore: As the investigation into the Kozhikode train arson case is progressing, the Special Investigation Agency (SIT) has unearthed more information about the likely help received by accused Sharukh Saifi.
The cops have received a CCTV image that shows Saifi wearing a different dress when he reached the Kannur railway station while fleeing. This attire was different from the one he was donning at the time of carrying out the arson attack on a coach of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express on the night of April 2.
The accused was found to have worn the same dress when he was finally arrested from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra two days later.
Saifi had lost his bag in the melee but despite that he managed to get another set of dress. This point to the role played by his aides who were either in the vicinity of the crime scene or at a place where he got down from the train soon after the crime.
The SIT team still believes that the accused had received local assistance both before and after the attack. However, they are yet to find out the persons behind the same, despite interrogating the accused many times last week.
The investigation team is still attempting to trace the persons who had helped Saifi escape from the attack site. This also points towards a conspiracy in carrying out the arson attack that left three dead and nine injured.
Witness statements
The witnesses have given statements that the arsonist had worn a red shirt at the time of spraying petrol on co-passengers and lighting the fire. Sharukh Saifi, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in southeast Delhi, had worn blue jeans and a red shirt when he went missing from Delhi a couple of days before the attack, as per the complaint filed by his family with the Shaheen Bagh Police.
This makes it clear that the accused changed dress somewhere between Elathur and Kannur soon after carrying out the arson attack, sources said.
Central agencies
The central investigating agencies too are holding parallel investigations into the sensitive case, which involves a terror angle. They had conducted inspections at Elathur and nearby places based on the assessment that the accused had received help from someone else during his travel from Elathur to Kannur while fleeing.
The possibility of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) taking over the probe has increased, with the state police failing to make crucial breakthroughs. The preliminary report submitted by the NIA, which also points out towards the possibility of a terrorist attack, is before the consideration of the Union Home Ministry.
Link to Coimbatore blast?
Meanwhile, Coimbatore City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan said the police are investigating whether the accused Saifi had any connection with the car blast in October last year in which one person was killed.
If some evidence of the accused’s suspected terrorist link is received, then the case will move to another level. The investigation team found many similarities between the Coimbatore and Mangalore explosions and the train arson attack.
The accused in the Mangalore blast case had visited Coimbatore before carrying out the attack. Similarly, suspect Mubin, who was killed in the Coimbatore blast, had visited Mysuru and Bengaluru.
The City Crime Branch doesn’t rule out the possibility of Saifi, who had no connection with Kerala previously, having some links in Tamil Nadu.
The Commissioner added that the team is closely following the details of the inquiry in Kerala. Cybercrime is monitoring hundreds of phones and will also keep a watch on social media.
Bail plea moved for Shahrukh
Meanwhile, a bail application has been moved before the Kozhikode Magistrate Court-1, seeking bail for Saifi.
Defense Chief Counsel Adv P Peethambaran of the Legal Services Society, the government system that provides legal aid to those who can’t afford one, submitted the bail plea the other day. The same will be considered by the court on April 18, when the police custody of the accused will end.
The crime
On the night of April 2, an unidentified man barged into the D-1 compartment of the Executive Express around 9.17 pm, carrying petrol in a bottle in a bag. He poured the fuel on the passengers without any provocation and lit 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 Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Ratnagiri two days later.