Kerala Train fire case: According to Kerala Police, the prime suspect in the train fire case confessed to the crime on Friday. ADGP (Law and Order), M R Ajith Kumar told reporters that the accused has admitted that he committed the crime and police were questioning the accused.
An accused involved in such cases may not reveal his motive and interrogation is a long process, Kumar said. The interrogation of the accused was underway and further details cannot be disclosed at this point, he added.
Hours after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) secured the custody of the accused, the senior officer said the team was probing all angles.
"We will take him to collect evidence as the interrogation proceeds," he added. The custody of the accused was obtained after he was declared physically fit by a medical board here.
The police official also said the bag, which was found along the track with a book and a bottle of petrol belongs to the accused.
Earlier, a court here granted 11-days custody of Shahrukh Saifi, who is accused of setting his co-passengers on fire on board Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train when it reached Korapuzha bridge in Kozhikode.
Nine people suffered burn injuries while three including a toddler were found dead on the track. Police suspect that they fell while trying to escape from the fire.
What was the incident?
On April 3, at least three people were killed and several others sustained burn injuries after an unidentified person splashed an inflammable substance inside the compartment of a moving train and set it ablaze.
According to reports, the suspect had poured petrol on a passenger and set a fire inside the D1 compartment of the Alappuzha-Kannur Main Executive Express train near Elathur in Kozhikode district. One of the injured persons had informed that an unidentified assailant splashed an inflammable substance, seemingly petrol or kerosene, and set the train on fire.
The bodies of a woman, an infant, and a man, who went missing from the train after the fire, were recovered from the tracks near the Elathur railway station, late on Sunday night. Police believe they fell off the train or attempted to get down after seeing the fire.
(With PTI input)
