'Puri train fire accused has terror connections'

Link to outfit revealed through polygraph test

A polygraph test conducted on Ramachandran Subash, accused in last month’s train fire incidents in Puri station, has reportedly revealed his association with a Mumbai module having links with a Pakistan-based terror organisation.

Subash, a native of Tamil Nadu was nabbed by government railway police (GRP) and local police personnel from Puri railway station on November 12 after he allegedly set coaches of three express trains on fire. No casualties were reported since the coaches were empty at that time.

The case has already been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as it was found during the initial probe that Subash was involved in similar incidents in Kharagpur in West Bengal, Haridwar in Uttarakhand and a town in Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from Odisha Police and NIA sleuths, GRP officials from all the three states have also questioned him.

If high-placed sources are to be believed, the polygraph test which was conducted at a government forensic lab here earlier this week, revealed that Subash was in touch with one Riaz, a Mumbai-based terror operative while working in a hotel there and received money from him to set trains on fire in targeted railway stations across the country.

Subash reportedly needed money to impress his girlfriend whom he had introduced himself as an engineer.

The polygraph test report has been handed over to the GRP and NIA following which the latter intensified its probe. An 11-member team of the probe agency also visited Puri on Saturday and spoke with the local police and GRP officials. They made a visit to the local railway station.

Meanwhile, the case which was registered against Subash in a lower court in Puri has been shifted to a court here. The accused would be transported to the Jharpada prison here from the one in Puri where he has been kept.

According to sources, the NIA will soon approach the court for his remand and to take him to New Delhi for questioning.