03:45
RPF constable Chetan Kumar arrested after shooting 4 people dead inside Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express
The constable had allegedly shot dead his senior colleague and three passengers aboard on board the moving Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra on Monday morning.
The police requested custody of the accused, stating that they had not yet assessed his mental health condition and that he had been uncooperative during the investigation.
According to a senior police official, the 33-year-old constable has a reputation for being very short-tempered.
Amid tight security, Singh was presented before a magistrate court in Mumbai at approximately 1.30pm.
Singh was escorted to the local court in Borivali from the police station, with GRP officials taking precautions to shield him from the media’s attention by covering the window panes of their vehicle with t-shirts and shirts.
Inside the courtroom, the magistrate made a decision to bar the media from attending the proceedings, citing security reasons. Additionally, lawyers not involved in the case were not allowed to be present during the proceedings.
Seeking Singh’s custody for 14 days, the GRP emphasized the seriousness of the matter at hand.
The investigating officer informed the court that a medical examination of the accused is yet to be conducted.
The incident in question occurred on a moving train, and the sequence of events is still under investigation. The police stated that they are in the process of collecting more evidence pertaining to the case.
The accused is not cooperating with the investigation and giving misleading answers. A thorough investigation is required to find out the reason behind the act of the accused, the police said in the court.
The police said Singh shot dead his senior colleague while being on escort duty on the train and there is a need to find out whether there was any dispute between the two during work hours on the day of the incident.
It is yet to be investigated whether Singh committed the said crime at the behest of anyone, the police said.
After hearing the arguments, the court remanded the accused in the custody of GRP till August 7.
Singh was nabbed with his weapon later while trying to flee after passengers pulled the chain of the train which stopped near Mira Road station (on the Mumbai suburban network) at around 6 AM.
He shot dead RPF Assistant Sub-Inspector Tikaram Meena and another passenger in B5 coach with his automatic weapon.
He then shot dead another passenger in a pantry car and one more passenger in S6 coach next to the pantry car after 5am.
Two of the deceased passengers have been identified by the Railway police as Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala (58), a resident of Nalasopara in Palghar and Asgar Abbas Sheikh (48), a resident of Madhubani in Bihar. A senior GRP official on Tuesday identified the third passenger as 43-year-old Syed S.
The Railway Board has set up a five-member committee to probe the incident, according to officials.
(With inputs from PTI)
