Another Kerala Train Fire: Man From Kolkata Nabbed

In the early hours of Thursday, a fire broke out in a coach of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train. The train was halted at the Kannur Railway station when the incident took place.

The police and the Intelligence Bureau are probing to find out if the fire was accidental or a deliberate attempt by someone.

" Out of the 10 fingerprints collected from the train coach which gutted in fire, forensic team confirmed that four belonged to Sidgar," the police said.

However Sidgar in his statement said that he is a beggar.

The incident comes two months after a man had set a train on fire in Kerala which resulted in three deaths, including a woman and a toddler.

On Thursday morning, following the incident, the Intelligence Bureau and National Investigation Agency arrived on the spot to take stock of the situation. Forensic teams too were pressed into service.

Whether or not the NIA would take over the probe will depend on the initial analysis conducted by the police. Currently the Kerala police and Railway Police are probing the incident.

The fire on the train was noticed by the station staff at around 1.30 am and they informed the fire department about the same. The train had been stationary on the track when the incident took place.

An official said that all angles would be probed as this is the second such incident that is taking place. In the previous incident the agencies learnt that the accused from Delhi had planned on carrying out similar attacks in multiple railway stations. The diary that was recovered suggested that there would be a set of coordinated attacks on railways stations across the country.

It is with this in mind that the agencies are taking nothing to chance while probing the most recent case.

Meanwhile there is a political slugfest over the latest incident with the opposition blaming the ruling LDF government of being soft, which has led to a rise in the number of such incidents.