Kerala Police Under Fire For 'Security Lapse' While Taking Saifi To Kozhikode

The police were forced to switch three vehicles after they developed snags and had to wait for 45 minutes on road. 

Only three policemen were with the suspect on the road and it was much later that police reinforcements came (File Photo)

The security mechanism of Kerala police came under the scanner after a police team with suspect Shahrukh Saifi, accused of allegedly setting ablaze passengers on a moving train, had to change four vehicles before reaching Kozhikode. The three-member team brought Shahrukh Saifi from Maharashtra's Ratnagiri with allegedly 'weak' security. 

According to IANS, a police team with three members nabbed Shahrukh Saifi from his hideout in Ratnagiri. However, they were forced to switch three vehicles after they developed snags and had to wait for 45 minutes on road with the suspect. 

The team started in an Innova car from Ratnagiri but they had to shift to another car as they entered the Kerala border. When they reached the Kannur district, the vehicle got punctured. 

As a result, the team had to wait for 45 minutes on the road with Saifi until another vehicle arrived. 

Also, while they were waiting with Saifi, only three policemen were with him on the road alone and it was much later that police reinforcements came.

Later, the team started in another car but the vehicle too developed a snag. It was on the fourth vehicle that Saifi finally reached a police camp in Kozhikode around 5.45 a.m.

According to sources, Saifi is understood to have confessed to the police that he did this crime based on the instigation of someone else. Earlier, his father had admitted that his son had gone missing and he had registered a complaint at the local police station in Saheen Bagh in Delhi.

Saifi also admitted that it was his first visit to Kerala and on Sunday night he travelled on the same train after he set co-passengers on fire, which left three dead and nine injured.

(With IANS inputs)