Jail asks court if ex-RPF cop can be shifted to mental hospital

RPF constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary's mental health is questioned in court as he faces trial for shooting four people on a train in July 2023.

Mumbai: The mental condition of Chetan Singh Chaudhary, the RPF constable accused of shooting dead his senior and three passengers, identifiably Muslim, on a train in July 2023, has become an issue once again, after having been rejected as a ground for bail right in the beginning.

Jail asks court if ex-RPF cop can be shifted to mental hospital

On Thursday, the Sessions Court trying Chaudhary received a letter from the Akola Central Jail where Chaudhary, 33, has been lodged since September 2023, asking for permission to take him for treatment to the Regional Mental Hospital, Nagpur.

The letter said that Chaudhary was taken to the Akola Government Hospital on December 19, after he complained of feeling unwell. The doctor who examined him however, felt his mental condition needed to be treated, and recommended that he be taken to the Regional Mental Hospital, Nagpur.

In his say, additional public prosecutor Sudhir Sapkale suggested that Chaudhary be treated at the Regional Mental Hospital at Thane, so that he could also be present during the trial. At present, Chaudhary virtually attends court through video conferencing.

Intervening counsel and Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) member Fazlurrahman Shaikh however, filed his “strong objections” to Chaudhary being taken anywhere for mental treatment. In his say filed in response to the letter from Akola Central Jail, Shaikh pointed out that Chaudhary’s own doctor’s opinion that forms part of the charge sheet, said that he was absolutely fit and had no mental health issues. The accused was trying to garner the sympathy of the court, he wrote, and urged the court to reject the request by the Akola Central Jail.

The APCR has intervened on behalf of the widow of Jaipur-based victim Asgar Ali Shaikh (48).

“Partial insanity” and Chauhan being “of unsound mind” was the original plea made by Chouhan’s defence lawyers in December 2023, when he applied for bail. It was rejected by the court, which said that Chauhan’s actions and utterances in the train showed that “he was in a well-settled position and mind to commit murder of (members of) a particular community.”

Chaudhary has been trying to be shifted to jails in or near Mumbai. Last month, the Taloja Central jail replied to Chaudhury’s application filed in March 2024, saying that it was already overcrowded.

Thursday also saw the second prosecution witness continue his deposition. Panch witness Atul Bangera, who was on duty as deputy station supervisor when the train reached its destination Mumbai Central, identified particles of bullets, empty cartridges, broken parts of a wristwatch strap, seized by the police in front of him as he accompanied them from coach B 5 to the pantry car to coach S6, all places where blood stains marked the spots where Chaudhary had shot his victims. The glass panes of the door of the pantry car and of a window of Coach S6 were displayed in court. Both had bullet holes in them, as did the white metal frame of a window.

Bangera’s examination in chief by PP Sapkale will continue on January 21.