KOZHIKODE: Kerala Police responded to the criticism regarding the sketch and its similarity to the accused in the Elathur train fire case. After the arrest of the accused who set fire to the train in Elathur, Kozhikode, the sketch released by the police has been criticized in the media as well. It was alleged that the sketch had no resemblance to the accused who got arrested. The response of the police is that the sketch cannot be accurate all the time as it is not drawn by seeing the suspect face to face.
'The sketch is not made after a face-to-face encounter with the accused. The features of the accused, recollected by the people who saw him is used to prepare the sketch. The mentioned features are not always correct. There are many cases where it is correct as well. In the state of panic at the time of the crime, the eyewitnesses need not be in such a state of mind to accurately recall the face of the perpetrators', Kerala Police wrote as a comment below the Facebook post. The comment appeared below the video of the state police chief announcing that the accused in the case, Shahrukh Saifi, has been arrested.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra ATS sources informed that Shahrukh Saifi, who was arrested in the case of setting fire to the train in Elathur, has confessed to the crime. Mobile phone, ATM card, Aadhaar and PAN cards were seized from him. Maharashtra ATS also stated that it has been handed over to Kerala Police for further investigation.
The accused was arrested from Ratnagiri on Tuesday during a search conducted by the Anti-Terrorist Wing of the Maharashtra Police and the Central Intelligence Agencies. According to the press release issued by ATS, he confessed to the crime during the subsequent interrogation.