On 29 September the National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge-sheeted the 27-year-old Sharukh Saifi who is the sole accused in the Kerala train arson instance that claimed the lives of three individuals including a man, a woman and a 2-year-old female child as well as injured nine others.
NIA released a statement which read that he has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, Railways Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. He is accused of carrying out a terrorist act on 2nd April of this year by setting fire to the D1 Coach of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express.
According to the grisly details in the NIA chargesheet, he committed the crime intentionally by tossing and sprinkling petrol on the passengers and setting the coach ablaze with a lighter. It stated, “A resident of Shaheenbagh, New Delhi, Saifi had boarded the moving Alappuzha- Kannur Executive Express, committed the terror act and continued to travel in the same train till Kannur, before escaping to Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, from where he was eventually arrested.”
He left the national capital on 31st March and arrived in Kerala on 2nd April. The notification informed, “The accused purchased petrol from a Petrol bunk in Shoranur and a lighter from a nearby store at Shoranur Railway Station.” He selected the southern state because he intended to carry out his Jihadi act in a place where he would not be recognised.
The perpetrator “intended to return to normal life” after executing his dreadful plan which was designed to inspire fear in the public. The official notice revealed, “He 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.”
He employed social media channels to follow hardline and extreme Islamic preachers during this period of time particularly those with the name Menk and who were based in Pakistan. He had been radicalised online and orchestrated the arson as a terrorist attack.
The statement conveyed, “The case was initially registered as First Information Report No. 38/2023 at Kozhikode Railway Police Station, Kerala State, and later by Special Investigation Team, Kerala. On 17th April, the NIA took over the investigations of the case (RC-01/2023/NIAIKOC) on orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
The NIA searched 10 sites in Delhi as part of its investigations and confiscated digital gadgets from those locations. The Railway Station’s CCTV footage was also seized and several witnesses were questioned during the inquiry in the case.
Background of the incident
On 2nd April, a fire broke out in the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express after Sharukh Saifi, a resident of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh set a bogey on fire by pouring petrol on the passengers when the train reached Korapuzha bridge near Elathur in Kozhikode at around 9.45 p.m. The deceased were identified as Rahmat, her sister’s daughter, Sahara Bathul and a neighbour Rasiq.
The accused allegedly worked as a carpenter and a YouTuber. He was hauled into prison from Ratnagiri where he was receiving medical attention for burn wounds he is believed to have sustained while engaging in the terrorist act. Furthermore, he also suffered injuries when he jumped from the moving train.
According to Additional Director General of Police M R Ajith Kumar, who also served as the head of the special investigative team in Kozhikode he is a fanatic and an ardent follower of Islamist preacher Zakir Naik. He highlighted, “Sharukh 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.”
He changed his lifestyle in June last year as he quit smoking and started to spend more time praying. He was understood to have been approached by extremists because of his social media activities even though his YouTube channel had a minuscule number of viewers. He went missing from his residence on 30 March following which his parents lodged a missing person complaint.