The National Investigation Agency has pressed charges against the sole accused in the Kerala train arson case, in which three passengers, including a child, were killed, and nine others were injured in April.
The accused, Shahrukh alias Shahrukh Saifi (27), is accused of committing the terror act by setting the D1 Coach of Alappuzha- Kannur Executive Express on fire on April 2.
The charge sheet, filed on Friday, says Saifi, the sole accused in the case, had sprinkled petrol on passengers and set the bogey on fire with a lighter, with the intention to kill people.
A resident of Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi, Saifi boarded the Alappuzha- Kannur Executive Express, committed the terror act, and continued to travel in the same train till Kannur, before escaping to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, where he was arrested. He travelled to Kerala from New Delhi on March 31 and reached the state on April 2.
The accused bought the fuel from a petrol pump in Shoranur and a lighter from a store at Shoranur Railway Station.
“NIA investigations show that Saifi had chosen Kerala for the act involving terror and arson as he wanted to commit his jihadi act in a location where he would not be recognised,” the federal agency said in a statement on Saturday. “He had intended to return to normal life after the commission of the act aimed at creating terror in the minds of the general public.”
{{/usCountry}}“NIA investigations show that Saifi had chosen Kerala for the act involving terror and arson as he wanted to commit his jihadi act in a location where he would not be recognised,” the federal agency said in a statement on Saturday. “He had intended to return to normal life after the commission of the act aimed at creating terror in the minds of the general public.”
{{/usCountry}}“The accused was self-radicalised through various online propaganda material available on social media in favour of violent extremism and jihad, as propagated by radical Islamic preachers of Indian and foreign nationalities,” it added. “In this process, he followed radical and hardline Islamic preachers, including those who are Pakistan-based, on social media platforms. He had committed the arson as a jihadi terror act in pursuance of the online radicalisation.”
The case was registered at Kozhikode railway police station and was later taken over by a special investigation team in Kerala. The federal agency took over the probe on April 17.
During the course of its investigation, the agency conducted searches in 10 locations in Delhi and seized digital devices. Several witnesses were questioned and CCTV footage from the railway station were seized.