According to Police, Shahrukh Saifi, the Delhi resident who is charged in connection with the recent train fire in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, is highly radicalised and a follower of the controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.
In the April 2 fire incident on board the Kannur-bound Executive Express train, which resulted in the deaths of three people, Shahrukh Saifi, 27, a native of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, was charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on Sunday, according to the police.
#BREAKING | Kerala train attack probe widens as accused Shahrukh Saifi booked under UAPA act.#KeralaTrainAttack #KozhikodeTrainIncident #Kerala https://t.co/uo0a3nu84K pic.twitter.com/c9GVxxnJwy
— Republic (@republic) April 17, 2023
According to Additional Director General of Police M R Ajith Kumar, who also serves as the head of the special investigative team in Kozhikode, “Saifi has been constantly watching Naik’s videos. He is an extremely radicalised man who arrived in Kerala with the intent to do the crime. All of the evidence linking him to the crime has been acquired.”
#BreakingNews | Kerala ADGP says the Koozhikode train fire accused Sharukh Saifi is 'highly radicalised'@Neethureghu share more details@toyasingh | #KozhikodeTrainFire #Kerala pic.twitter.com/SgjM53UfYh
— News18 (@CNNnews18) April 17, 2023
He said that after the terror angle was discovered, Saifi was charged under UAPA Section 16 (acts of terror that result in loss of life, punishable by death or life imprisonment). The investigation is still ongoing to see if he had any local backing for the crime. At this point, we have all the information regarding his travels from Delhi to Kozhikode in Kerala and his subsequent movements to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, the official said.
The ADGP further stated that an investigation into whether he received backing from extremist groups in Kerala or elsewhere in the nation is also ongoing.
In addition to section 151 (damaging railway property) of the Indian Railways Act, the police had previously filed a murder case against Saifi and cited sections 326A (causing grievous hurt by use of acid, etc.), 436 (mischief by fire and explosive substances), and 438 (attempt to commit mischief by fire or explosives) of the Indian Penal Code.
On April 2, Saifi splashed petrol on the passengers of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express and set them ablaze at Elathur in Kozhikode.
Shahrukh, a YouTuber, and carpenter by profession, is believed to have landed in Shornur town in Kerala from Delhi on April 2 and spent the entire day there before boarding the train. Investigators claimed that he filled a couple of bottles with petrol from a Shornur outlet during this time.
Reportedly, Shahrukh Saifi, a YouTuber by profession changed his lifestyle in June last year as he quit smoking and started to spend more time in Namaz. The police suspect that despite having a very small number of subscribers on his YouTube channel, Saifi is thought to have been approached by radicals because of his social media activity.
Shahrukh claimed to have carried out the attack near Elathur by himself, however, police suspect there may have been other people involved in the attack. Shahrukh also had a list of railway stations in the state that he wanted to target.
While Shahrukh reportedly told the cops about his changed lifestyle before carrying out the train fire attack, his family in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh claimed that he never showed any explicit religious behaviour.
Earlier it was reported that a Kerala Police team visited accused Shahrukh’s residence in Shaheen Bagh and questioned his parents. He went missing from his residence on March 30, following which his parents lodged a missing person complaint.
