Kochi, April 18 (). The Kochi unit of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday took over the probe into the Kerala train burning case.
The Union Home Ministry has issued a notification following which the probe agency lodged an FIR in the NIA court here. Meanwhile, 27-year-old accused Shahrukh Saifi, a resident of Delhi, was produced in a Kozhikode court. His police custody had ended.
With the NIA taking over the investigation, the Kerala Police – Special Investigation Team did not seek extended custody and hence Shahrukh Saifi was sent to judicial custody.
In the coming days, the Kochi unit will seek Saifi’s custody to solve the case and find out his motive. On April 2, Shahrukh Saifi set ablaze a coach of a moving train in Kozhikode by pouring petrol.
He later traveled to Kannur by the same train and after a few hours boarded another train and got down at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Three passengers died of fear by jumping off the moving train, while nine others sustained burn injuries.
It was only after the intervention of central agencies that the ATS division of the Maharashtra Police was alerted that Saifi was in Ratnagiri and arrested. Saifi was handed over to the Kerala Police, and taken to Kozhikode. Till Tuesday he was in the custody of the Kerala SIT.
It was clear on Monday that the NIA would take over the probe in the case when SIT chief ADGP MR Ajit Kumar told the media that Saifi was a highly radicalized person and the probe team found that right from boarding the train to What did he do till his arrest in Ratnagiri.
Earlier, Kerala BJP president K.K. Surendran strongly criticized the Kerala government for its soft approach towards terrorism-related incidents. He said, it has been more than two weeks since this incident and the police have not yet taken any action against those who helped Saifi.
No one has a clue as to who prepared his food as a tiffin box was found on the track near Alathur (the place where the fire broke out), Surendran said. There are many answers to be revealed. Kerala government is more interested in vote bank politics and hence such things happen here.
FZ/SKP
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