- Sunday, March 02, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
In a spine-chilling incident, a man got on board a train in the southern Indian state of Kerala and sprayed an inflammable liquid on passengers and set them ablaze, killing three. Eight other people also suffered burn injuries. The accused was later identified by the police as a native of Noida in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, police said, according to a News18 report.
According to the police, prima facie it appeared that the deceased — including two women and a two-year-old girl — jumped off the train in a bid to save themselves, the Indian Express reported.
The victims were identified as Rahmath M, 42, and KP Noufaq, 39, besides Zahra, the report added.
The incident happened in a reserved compartment of the train, which was about to cross a bridge between Kozhikode and Kannur in the state, around 9.45 pm local time on Sunday (2).
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Indian railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reacted to the incident. While the former, who also holds the home department, said a special investigation team was made to crack the case. The probe was being overseen by state police chief Anil Kanth, the report added.
Vaishnaw also confirmed it saying he had a talk with Vijayan. He also said that the railway police and state authorities were working in tandem to track the culprit.
The Express report quoted the police who spoke to eyewitnesses to say that an unidentified person carrying two bottles entered the compartment, which was a reserved one, and set the passengers on fire “without provocation”.
Terrified by the act, the passengers either ran to other compartments or pulled the train’s chain to stop it.
The accused escaped meanwhile.
It was after the officials sealed the two compartments and sent the injured to the hospital that the train restarted for its destination.
The bodies of the deceased, however, were found on the tracks only on Monday (3) morning during an inspection following the incident, Kozhikode police commissioner Rajpal Meena said, according to the report.
