KANNUR, April 4 (PTI): A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police on Tuesday intensified its probe into an incident of arson aboard an express train in Kozhikode district of Kerala, and was verifying information received about the suspect in the case, police said.
Two days after the incident rocked the state, senior officials of various investigating agencies, including the NIA (National Investigation Agency) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) today inspected the coaches of the Alappuzha-Kannur Express train.
On Sunday night, an unidentified man set fire to passengers after pouring petrol on them when the train reached Korapuzha bridge near Elathur. Nine people suffered burn injuries and are undergoing treatment at various hospitals.
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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.
ADGP (Law and Order) MR Ajith Kumar said the investigating team had received information regarding the culprit and was verifying it.
“We have received much information regarding the culprit in our preliminary investigation. We have to verify the information. The probe is in the preliminary stage. We can’t divulge much about the investigation now,” Kumar told the media.
Meanwhile, a high-level meeting of senior officials of the government, RPF and Kerala police was held in Kannur today to evaluate the progress of the investigation.
RPF IG GM Easwara Rao today inspected the coaches of the train which is parked at Kannur station and said as part of increasing security, the Railway would consider setting up more CCTV cameras at stations and in coaches.
“We are reviewing the security gaps. Planning to install CCTVs in more stations. We need to install more CCTV even in small stations too,” Rao said.
Rao said the RPF was cooperating with the state police investigation into the attack and would provide all assistance.
Earlier, the SIT formed by the Kerala police conducted a forensic examination inside the coaches and collected evidence. Police have already released a computer-generated sketch of the person, who is suspected to have poured petrol on passengers inside the compartment and set them on fire.
Various investigating agencies have also reportedly started an investigation into possible terror links to the attack.
The hunt for the absconding accused is still on.
The incident occurred around 9:45 pm on Sunday when the train reached the Korapuzha railway bridge here after crossing Kozhikode city.
Initially, it was believed that the incident was the outcome of an altercation between the accused and another passenger. Subsequently, police and a passenger present in the compartment said the accused did not have any altercation with anyone. He poured an inflammable liquid, believed to be petrol, on the passengers and set them on fire, resulting in burn injuries to nine people.
The accused is suspected to have escaped when the train slowed down after someone pulled the emergency chain.
