Railway Police Constable Kills 4 People On Moving Train
On 31st July 2023, an RPF officer shot dead four people, including an ASI, on a train in Maharashtra, and was subsequently arrested.
A Railway Protection Force (RPF) officer on 31st July 2023 morning shot dead four people, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), on-board a running train near the Palghar railway station in Maharashtra. He was later arrested while he was attempting to run away. Usually in long distance trains, there are escort parties which have four to five personnel of the GRP and RPF. They provide security to trains in their respective railway divisions and thereafter, their counterparts from other divisions take over the responsibility of guarding the trains. The four-member team earlier escorted Dadar-Porbandar Saurashtra Express up to Surat station the previous day - 30th July 2023. On the return journey, the escorting party was guarding the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express. The Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express departed from Jaipur station in Rajasthan at 2.00 pm on 30th July 2023 and reached Surat station, where the escort party boarded the train, at 2.45 am on 31st July 2023. The accused, RPF Constable Chetan Singh, opened 12 rounds of fire with his official automatic gun inside the moving train after it crossed Palghar Station at around 5am killing his escort duty in charge ASI Tikaram Meena, and three passengers on the train. Chetan Singh, first shot dead ASI, Tikaram Meena point blank. He then shot Bhanpurwala, who was also present nearby, in the same B5 coach. After this, Singh roamed in around five coaches before allegedly killing the third victim (yet to be identified) inside the pantry car and later Asgar Abbas in coach number S6. A passenger pulled the chain following which Singh tried to escape near Dahisar. Personnel from RPF and GRP chased him and caught him while he was trying to escape from Mira Road. At about 6:20, the train reached Borivali and four dead bodies were retrieved by GRP and RPF officers and staff. While two out of the 3 dead passengers were identified as Asgar Abbas Ali (48) and Abdul Kadar Mohamed Hussain Bhanpurwala (64), the identity of the third passenger was being ascertained. Singh was then taken to Borivali GRP office where he was placed under arrest. GRP officers said that hours before the shooting, Singh had a verbal altercation with some passengers at Surat Railway Station and subsequently with ASI Meena. Singh had reported that he was unwell due to which he wanted to be relieved from duty a few hours before his shift ended. Addressing the media, Inspector General of RPF (Western Railway) Praveen Sinha said, "We had heard he is quite hot-headed. But then we found no such instance in his record of the past five years. His record has been clean and that’s why I posted him in Mumbai when he requested six months ago. His five-yearly medical fitness examination was conducted around one-and-a-half years ago, which he passed. That apart there are regular medical checkups every year. There were no red flags medically as well to explain this behavior. Even after coming back from leave, he had been part of teams escorting trains.” The Western Railways has said they are conducting a high level enquiry. However, in a video, shot by fellow passengers, Singh, standing next to a body, is purportedly heard saying: “… Pakistan se operate hue ye, aur media yehi coverage dikha rahi hai, unko sab pata chal raha hai ye kya kar rahe hain… Agar vote dena hai, agar Hindustan mein rehna hai to mai kehta hoon Modi aur Yogi, ye do hain.” Officials from Western Railway said they were checking the authenticity of the video. “Its location and authenticity cannot be established. It can also be morphed. Matter is under investigation.” Officials said the family of ASI Meena will be given an ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh, Rs 15 lakh from the Railway Surksha Kalyan Nidhi, a death cum retirement gratuity of approximately Rs 15 lakh along with Rs 65,000 as per the General Insurance Scheme. Railway Ministry officials said, “The next of kin of the three passengers killed will get ex gratia as per Railway rules.”
