The Palakkad Division of Indian Railways has issued a press statement about the incident where a man allegedly set fire to a passenger coach in the Alappuzha-Kannur Express. The Public Relations Officer B Devadanam said in a statement that a case has been registered at the Kozhikode Railway Police station and an investigation is underway. The Railway police have invoked Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 326A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid, etc), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance), 438 (punishment for the mischief committed by fire or explosive substance) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with 151, which pertains to damage or destruction of certain railway properties) of The Railways Act.
The statement said that the Railway Divisional Control Office, on the night of April 2, “received information that a person sprinkled some inflammable liquid and lit fire on D1 Coach of Train No 16307, Alappuzha-Kannur Express and then escaped from the coach after pulling the chain. The incident resulted in burn injuries to some passengers. The train was stopped at Korappuzha Bridge near Elathur station in the Kozhikode-Kannur section,” the statement said, adding that the train restarted journey at 10.10 pm after the fire was put out.
The statement also said that eight persons were admitted to the hospital with burn injuries. Three of them - yothindranath (50), Prakashan (52) and Prince TU - are at Kozhikode Baby Memorial Hospital, while five others - Aswathy (29), Ruby (52), Anilkumar (52), Sajisha (42), and Adwaidh (21) - are at Kozhikode Medical College. “Three dead bodies were found near Elathur Yard - Rahimath (45), Sahara, (2) and Noufeeque. It is suspected that the deceased persons jumped out from D-1 coach of Train No. 16307 Express due to fear and panic in the aftermath of the fire incident.” The man on board the train who perpetrated the crime is absconding.