In a Delhi hotel room on Friday, the father of a witness in the recent Kerala train arson case was discovered dead, the police officials stated.
Three days after arriving in Delhi to file his statement in the case with his son, the 45-year-old resident of Delhi, identified as Mohammed Shafik, was discovered hanged in his hotel room.
According to police sources, the deceased and his son gave a statement to the police in relation to the Kozhikode train burning incident that took place in April. The duo came in the state on May 16, the authorities stated.
The witness appeared before court the next day, on May 17 and 18, after being summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as part of its investigation into the Kerala train arson case, which was recently taken over by the NIA’s Kochi unit.
“Shafik and his son came to the state to give their testimony in the case. They were about to return to Delhi after finishing the statement recording. However, his son witnessed him hanging inside the bathroom,” a senior police officer stated.
On April 2, an atrocious train arson event in Kozhikode district killed three persons, including a baby. The case was filed under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Railway Act, and the Explosive Substances Act.
The accused, Shahrukh Saifi, set fire to the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express when it arrived at the Korapuzha bridge near Elathur in Kozhikode on the night of the incident.
While three persons were found dead on the railway tracks, up to nine people were seriously injured. The three people who died are believed to have been attempting to flee the train when the fire broke out.
