Singh, had delivered a communally charged speech mentioning “Pakistan” and domestic politics which was filmed by onlookers and went viral.
Officials said the videos had been sent for authentication to rule out any possibility of morphing or audio manipulation. After their authenticity was confirmed, a decision was made to add provisions related to communal disharmony.
On Tuesday, the remand application submitted before a magistrate court mentioned Section 302 of IPC (murder), section 152 of Indian Railways Act (maliciously hurting or attempting to hurt persons travelling by Railways), besides provisions of Arms Act. The FIR was based on a narration of events by Singh’s co-worker, constable Amey Acharya, who was present on the Jaipur-Mumbai train. The document is silent on Singh’s communally charged speech.
Singh will next be produced before court on August 7 when the remand application will additionally include section 153 (A) of IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony). This provision attracts a prison term of three years with a fine or with both, if found guilty.
Early on Monday, Singh had had an argument with the escorting team leader, ASI Tikaram Meena, over not being relieved from duty on the train despite citing ill health. Meena had asked him to rest and instructed Acharya to take his rifle. But in 10 minutes, Singh got back up and tried to throttle Acharya when he wouldn’t return his rifle. Later, he gunned down Meena and an elderly passenger, Kadir Bhanpurwala, in separate instances, in coach B5. He went to coach B2 where he pointed his gun at another passenger, Syed Saifuddin, took him along to the pantry car and shot him. Singh then headed to coach S6 where he shot dead a third passenger, Asghar Abbas Shaikh. He then delivered the communally charged speech standing next to Shaikh’s body.
In offences of a grave nature, investigators typically recreate the sequence of events to get a better idea of how the crime occurred. Investigators are building a link between footage retrieved from CCTVs to establish the sequence. “Not all coaches had cameras. We have retrieved footage from the ones that did,” said an official. While the actual act of firing may not have been captured on camera, Singh has been captured moving through various coaches. The footage will be examined to find out if he had any altercation with the three passengers that he targeted.
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Mumbai train firing: Chetan Singh fired 12 rounds in 40 minutes, one victim was made to walk to pantry car at gunpoint
Singh was immediately suspended on his arrest and a decision about his dismissal from the force is yet to be taken.
