Kochi (Kerala) [India]: The Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday sent Shahrukh Saifi, the accused caught in connection to the Kozhikode’s Elathur train attack case, to judicial custody till May 27.
Earlier on Thursday, NIA had conducted searches at 10 locations in the national capital in connection with the attack case that took place on April 2 this year. The agency sleuths carried out raids at Delhi’s Shahin Bagh and other locations of suspects.
The NIA carried out these searches at the hideouts of suspects in the case which was taken over by the anti-terror agency almost a month ago and it started its probe charging the “highly radicalised” arrested accused Shahrukh Safi.
The agency took over the case from Kerala Police in mid-April following an order issued by the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) division under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). As it was a clear case of terror involving many states, the NIA invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in its based on doubts that the accused was sent to the state by his handlers and he got enough local help.
The NIA’s action comes days after the accused, identified as one Shahrukh Saifi, who also suffered burn injuries during the terror act, was slapped with murder charges under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code by a district session court in Kozhikode. He was charged with murder in a case filed by the railway police.
As per officials, there was a preplanned conspiracy behind the crime and it was not a single-man mission as confessed by the accused.
Saifi, 27, a native of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police and Central Intelligence after the train arson attack case. He had also suffered injuries in the attack.
At the time of interrogation by a special investigation team (SIT) Saifi provided contradictory statements in which initially, he had said he was being used by someone and later retracted saying, everything was planned and executed by him only.
The NIA is investigating the larger conspiracy as part of which Saifi, assessed by Kerala police to be “highly radicalised” and influenced by inflammatory speeches of Islamic evangelist Zakir Naik, planned and executed the act of arson.
On April 2, Saifi had attempted to set some passengers on fire on board the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express at Elathur in Kozhikode, after spraying them with an inflammable liquid. Three passengers lost their lives while trying to jump out of the train to escape the fire. Saifi was later arrested from Ratnagiri.
