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Shahrukh Saifi, the accused in the case of Elathur train attack, has filed an application before the Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court at Kochi seeking permission to speak with his lawyer without the presence of the agency officials.
In the application, he made serious allegations against the NIA that, "My relatives and friends were interrogated for days without notice. My friend's father committed suicide due to NIA torture. They are threatening my relatives saying that if they do not accept what they say, they will be arraigned as accused in this case." Earlier the Special NIA Court has sent him to judicial custody till May 27. Saifi, 27, a native of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police and Central Intelligence after the train arson attack case. He had also suffered injuries in the attack. At the time of interrogation by a special investigation team (SIT) Saifi provided contradictory statements in which initially, he had said he was being used by someone and later retracted saying, everything was planned and executed by him only. The NIA is investigating the larger conspiracy as part of which Saifi, assessed by Kerala police to be "highly radicalised" and influenced by inflammatory speeches of Islamic evangelist Zakir Naik, planned and executed the act of arson. On April 2, Saifi had attempted to set some passengers on fire on board the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express at Elathur in Kozhikode, after spraying them with an inflammable liquid. Three passengers lost their lives while trying to jump out of the train to escape the fire. Saifi was later arrested from Ratnagiri. (ANI)
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