Kerala: Man sets co-passenger on fire in train, 3 found dead; suspicious bag leads to terror angle

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Kozhikode, April 03, 2023: At least, three people were found dead, and nine others were injured after a man allegedly set afire a co-passenger on board an express train in Kozhikode on Sunday. As per police, three persons, including a one-year-old child and a woman, were found dead on the tracks near the Elathur railway station in Kerala, hours after the fire incident.

 

A case of murder has been lodged against the accused, police said

The three deceased were missing from the train after the fire incident. Their bodies were recovered from the tracks late Sunday night, a senior police official from the district told PTI.

 

Kozhikode, Kerala | Forensic experts reached the spot where the bodies of three people including that of a child were found near a railway track. pic.twitter.com/154A3r3EFU

— ANI (@ANI) April 3, 2023

While a PTI report mentioned that the man set the co-passenger on fire following an argument, a suspicious bag found later cropped up a “terror angle" that police says cannot be ruled out.

Kerala police said it will form an SIT to investigate the case, and the suspect will be identified soon.

“Special investigation team will be formed, details of this will be given after discussions with officials incurred IG north zone… We have some clues, scientific investigation is ongoing," said Kerala police chief DGP Anil Kant.

On asked if there is any terror or extremist angle to the case, the DGP said, “it is part of enquiry only after enquiry we will know."

THE CASE

At around 9.45 pm, when the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train reached the Korapuzha railway bridge after crossing Kozhikode city, an unidentified man poured an inflammable liquid, believed to be petrol, on a co-passenger and set him on fire resulting in burn injuries to nine other passengers, police said.

“Some of the injured suffered 50 per cent burns, but presently their health condition is stable," another Railway police officer said.

The incident that took place in the D1 compartment of the train resulted in burn injuries to at least eight persons, they added.

The bodies found on the tracks did not have any burns, police added.

The man escaped soon after the incident, while the injured were shifted to hospitals after passengers pulled the emergency chain.

Police suspect a terror angle in the case as a bag was recovered from the tracks that had another bottle of petrol and two mobile phones.

Quoting an eye-witness the Hindustan Times reported that soon after the train stopped on a bridge along the Korapuzha river, a man in his thirties jumped out of it and fled on a bike that was waiting for him.

The police have recovered the assailant’s visuals recovered from a CCTV footage of a nearby house. They suspected the incident was a well-planned attack.

When the train reached Kannur, a few passengers complained that a woman and a child were missing after the incident.

“A man, who was injured, kept looking for a woman and a child. We found footwear and a mobile phone of that woman," a passenger told the media at Kannur.

Soon after the news of the missing persons came out, the city police inspected the tracks and found three bodies, including the woman and the child and a mid-aged man.

Police suspect they fell off the train or attempted to deboard after seeing the fire.

“The woman and the child who went missing were found dead on the tracks. There is one unidentified body of a male. We have found CCTV visuals of the suspect. Investigation is on," a senior police official of the district said.

Sources said the woman was the child’s aunt.

A total of nine persons have been admitted to various hospitals, including the Kozhikode Medical College, for treatment Further details are awaited.