Shahrukh Saifi, the prime suspect in the Kerala train fire case, was sent to 11-day police custody on Friday, April 7. He was produced at a local court in Kozhikode where the police probe team was granted his custody. Accused of setting fellow passengers ablaze on a moving train, Shahrukh Saifi (24) was undergoing treatment at Kozhikode Medical College hospital. The incident of arson claimed three lives.
He was hospitalised after being taken into custody from Maharashtra's Ratnagiri as he had suffered injuries and his bilirubin levels were high. On Thursday, after the medical tests had revealed the possibility of jaundice, he was admitted to the hospital. On Friday morning, a local magistrate arrived at the hospital and decided to send Saifi to judicial custody.
After assessing his medical condition, the medical board also decided that Saifi could be discharged. The police then petitioned and were granted custody for 11 days. The court asked the police to produce him before a medical team on April 10.
With Saifi in the custody of the Kerala police, they are expected to take him for evidence collection to a few places at Kozhikode, Kannur and Ratnagiri. Saifi was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad with the help of central investigative agencies on Wednesday.
Saifi was driven down to Kozhikode and arrived at a police camp at around 5.45 a.m. on Thursday. On the night of April 2, Saifi, hailing from Delhi, doused petrol on fellow passengers and set them afire while the train was moving from Kozhikode to Kannur. Three people, including a two-year-old girl, died after they panicked and jumped out of the moving train. Nine others suffered burn injuries.
Earlier on Friday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, presently touring his home district of Kannur, visited the family of the two-year-old girl and then, of her aunt, who also died on Sunday, and handed over an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to both families.