The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at ten locations in the national capital on Thursday in connection with the Elathur train arson attack case, which occurred on April 2 of this year.
The agency sleuths have been conducting these searches since this morning, and the raids in Delhi’s Shahin Bagh and other suspect locations are still ongoing. The NIA conducted these searches at the hideouts of suspects in the case, which was taken over by the anti-terror agency almost a month ago, and it began its investigation charging the arrested “highly radicalised” accused Shahrukh Safi.
Following an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) division, the agency took over the case from Kerala Police in mid-April.
Because it was a clear case of terror involving multiple states, the NIA invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in its investigation, based on doubts that the accused was sent to the state by his handlers and received adequate local assistance.
The NIA’s action comes just days after a district session court in Kozhikode charged the accused, identified as Shahrukh Saifi, who also suffered burn injuries during the terror act, with murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.