Kerala train fire incident: Police invokes UAPA, says accused highly radicalised by Zakir Naik

The Kerala police have decided to invoke the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against the accused who was involved in the recent fire incident on board a train in Kozhikode. The incident which left three people dead was eight injured occurred on 2 April and the accused Shahrukh Saifi, 27 was subsequently arrested by a team of Maharashtra ATS on 5 April. The police also mentioned that the accused was radicalized and followed Zakir Naik.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kerala police probing the fire incident submitted its report before the Additional Sessions court on Sunday and also invoked section 16 of the UAPA act.

"Sharukh was charged with UAPA Section 16 yesterday on the basis of evidence gathered in the Investigation. Within two weeks the investigation team was able to find out necessary evidence in the case," head of Kerala police SIT M R Ajith Kumar said.

The development paves the way for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the case.

The Kerala police on Monday also informed that the accused, who is a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi is highly radicalized and is an ardent follower of the controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.

"Sharuk Saifi is a radical person. He used to watch on a continuous basis videos of radicals like Sakeer Naik and Isra Ahamed. He arrived in Kerala after planning this attack," the police official said.

"The case was registered by Railway Police. The investigation was done in other states as well. The Kerala Police have done this investigation with the police of other states and with central agencies," the ADGP said.

The police team is also investigating if the accused received any assistance from other people in committing the offense.

On 2 April, the accused set a passenger on fire onboard the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train at Elathur town in Kozhikode after spraying some inflammable substance. Three passengers lost their lives as a result of the incident, having been forced to jump out of the train to escape the flames.

(With inputs from ANI)