According to the police, Saifi has confessed to his crime. (file)
Kozhikode:
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the train burning incident in Kerala on Monday said the accused is a “highly radicalized” person who had reached the state in the past to commit the crime. In a planned manner.
ADGP (Law and Order), MR Ajit Kumar, who heads the SIT, said accused Shahrukh Saifi used to watch radical videos of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and that provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been invoked against him . On the collected scientific evidence.
The probe team has invoked Section 16 of the UAPA which deals with punishment for terrorist acts.
“We went to various states and conducted a comprehensive investigation on the basis of scientific, documentary and oral evidence collected and decided to invoke relevant provisions of UAPA. He is highly radicalized. He watched radical videos of Zakir Naik and others. He came here. In a pre-planned manner to commit the crime,” Mr Kumar told the media in Kozhikode.
Senior police officer said that the age of the accused is 27 years and he has completed Plus Two education from National Open School.
He said the probe team has found evidence regarding the accused and the crime committed by him and is probing whether he got any help from anyone else.
The probe team, which has been given the custody of Shahrukh Saifi, had taken them to Kannur to collect evidence from two coaches of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train on April 12, in which it had set ablaze some passengers, resulting in death. Three people including a two-year-old child.
Saifi’s police custody ends on April 18.
Kozhikode First Class Judicial Magistrate had given Saifi to police custody for 11 days after he was discharged from the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained while trying to escape from the moving train.
According to the police, Saifi has also confessed to his crime.
On the night of April 2, Saifi had set ablaze his co-passengers on the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train when it reached the Korapuzha bridge near Elathur in Kozhikode.
Nine people suffered burn injuries in the incident, while three people, including a child, died on the tracks. Police suspect that they might have fallen while trying to escape from the fire.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)