Three people, including an infant, died in the incident in which the accused poured petrol on passengers before setting the train on fire.
Shahrukh Saifi was discharged from the medical college in the city after undergoing treatment for injuries he suffered during an attempt to escape from the moving train.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police reportedly arrested a man — the suspect in the Kozhikode, Kerala, train arson case — from a hospital in Ratnagiri.
The man was picked up from the Ratnagiri Railway Station, He had earlier absconded from Ratnagiri district hospital where he was undergoing treatment for burns, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad said in a statement.
He suffered burns after he had allegedly splashed an inflammable liquid, suspected to be petrol, on random passengers and lit a fire on board the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express late on Sunday, 2 April, night.
Three people, including a toddler, were killed in the incident, while nine others suffered serious burns.
The 27-year-old suspect, Sharukh Shaifi, wasn handed over to the Kerala police. The Shaheen Bagh police in Delhi had issued a “hue and cry” notice after they received a complaint that Shahrukh had gone missing.
He has been accused of setting fire on the Alappuzha-Kannur daily near Elathoor in Kerala’s Kozhikode district.
Sharukh’s family identified him. He had been assisting his father, Fakruddin of Jamia Nagar in New Delhi’s Okla, reportedly said he deserved the appropriate punishment if he had committed the crime.
The accused, Shaifi, was reportedly arrested following a tip-off. The Kerala police had released a computer-generated sketch of the suspect with the help of Razak, the prime eyewitness.
Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed the arrest. The Railway Police Force (RPF) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) were also involved in picking Shaifi up.
“The person who committed this heinous crime has been apprehended in Ratnagiri of Maharashtra. I thank the Maharashtra government, their police, and RPF & NIA who have apprehended him this quickly,” Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said while speaking to reporters
Shaifi will be taken to Kerala for further probe. He did odd jobs, including carpentry. He also ran a YouTube channel.
When the train reached Koyilandi, a passenger, Rasiq, complained that a woman and a child were missing after the incident.
The “hue and cry” notice issued by the Shaheen Bagh police. (Supplied)
“A man, who had suffered burns, kept searching for a woman and a child. We found footwear and a mobile phone of that woman,” a passenger told the media after the train had Kannur on that fateful Sunday.
A search operation found the bodies of the woman and child by the railway tracks near the Elanthur Railway Station. A man was also found dead nearby.
“A man wearing a shirt similar to red colour entered the D1 compartment. He had two bottles of petrol with him,” the passenger had said.
“He opened a bottle and splashed petrol on the passengers before lighting the fire. I left the scene immediately as my hair was on fire, which I managed to douse. Nobody was expecting it. There was panic in the compartment,” he told reporters.
The train was approaching the bridge on Korappuzha after Kozhikode city around 9.30 pm on Sunday, 2 April, when the incident happened.
Soon after the police were alerted of the missing woman and child, a search was launched and their bodies and that of a middle-aged man were found by the tracks.
The police suspect they had fallen off the train or attempted to alight on seeing the fire. The possibility of another train running over the toddler is not ruled out.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday congratulated the investigation team for nabbing the suspect in the Alappuzha-Kannur Express train fire incident that claimed three lives.
Vijayan said that the apprehension of the assailant within three days of the incident indicates the investigative excellence of the Kerala Police and the cooperation received from various central and state agencies.
He also congratulated all the police officers, who took part in the probe, and also the agencies, including Maharashtra ATS, central intelligence, and the Railways, that cooperated in the probe.
Meanwhile, the Kerala cabinet today decided to provide ₹5 lakh financial assistance to the next of kin of those who died in the incident.
The financial assistance would be provided from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund, it decided.
Kerala police chief Anil Kant, earlier in the day, said that it was the outcome of the combined efforts of the SIT formed here, central agencies, and Maharashtra police.
“The suspect has been taken into custody. Right now he is in Ratnagiri. The process is on to bring him here. He will be brought here as soon as possible,” the state police chief said.
(With PTI inputs)
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