Sixteen days after 27-year-old Delhi youth, Shahrukh Saifi, set ablaze passengers on a train bound for Kerala’s Kannur, the head of the special investigation team of the Kerala Police, on Monday, April 17, said that the youth was "a highly radicalised personality". Speaking to the media, ADGP Ajith Kumar, the SIT head, said that each and every detail of what he did right from the time he boarded the train from Delhi till the time he got arrested from Ratnagiri has been found out.
"We have acquired all the details of what he did and we managed to understand that he is a highly radicalised individual, which can be understood from the videos he has been watching,” said Ajithkumar. He was talking about the videos of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Nairk, whom Saifi was an ardent follower of, says the police. “At the moment it's early to say if he has got help from other quarters," said Ajith kumar.
"We have found out that he came with the motive to do what he did. Our probe has been done with the support of other national agencies and other state agencies. UAPA charges have also been levied on the accused," the ADGP added. Saifi has been charged under section 16 (acts of terror that lead to loss of life, punishable with death or life imprisonment) of the UAPA.
The Kerala police had earlier booked Saifi under sections 326A (causing grievous hurt by use of acid etc), 436 (mischief by fire and explosive substances), 438 (attempt to commit mischief by fire or explosives) of the Indian Penal Code, besides section 151 (damaging railway property) of the Indian Railways Act.