Bhubaneswar, Dec. 11: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) may take Ramachandran Subash, the prime accused in fire incident in three express trains at Puri railway station on November 12, to Delhi for further interrogation after finding the his link with a Pakistan-based terror outfit.

Sources said the premier agency would file a petition in a Bhubaneswar court to take transit remand of the 27-year-old accused. Puri sub-divisional judicial magistrate court yesterday transferred the case to Bhubaneswar, where a similar incident was reported in another train on the same day.

The polygraph test of the accused, which had been conducted at the State Forensic Laboratory in Bhubaneswar on Monday, also revealed his link with one Riaz, reported to be a member of Mumbai terror module.

Police sources said Subash confirmed his association with Riaz, who is alleged to have links with a Pakistan-based terror outfit. Besides, the accused also confirmed that another man named Uttam, who had been introduced to him in Calcutta, paid Rs 1 lakh for carrying out the arson.

Sources said Subash was asked 24 questions during the polygraph test, and the accused gave correct reply to 15 of the questions asked to him. The questions were related to his link with any terror outfit, whether he had met any person in Calcutta or he was responsible for such arsons in other parts of the country.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) said the incident was a trail test. "The outfit, which had employed Subash, wanted to test a chemical, which would help spread fire in train very quickly. It is also suspected that the accused carried out similar arsons at other religious cities, including Gaya and Hardwar," said a GRP official.

Fire broke out in compartments S-11 and S-12 of the New Delhi-Puri Nandankanan Express on platform No. 4, while two compartments (S-2 and S-3) of the Tirupati-Puri Express standing on platform No. 2 caught fire at Puri railway station.

Subsequently, the flames spread to a general compartment of the Puri-Howrah Express stationed at platform No. 6. However, there was no casualty as all the compartments were vacant during the incident.