Jaipur-Mumbai train shooting: Armed forces officer who saw RPF constable kill his senior is GRP’s key witness

According to the 1,097-page chargesheet filed by the GRP at the Borivali metropolitan magistrate court, the key eyewitness, a resident of Rajasthan, was travelling to Mumbai for work and was seated on seat 72 of the B5 coach, in which the RPF constable killed Meena

MUMBAI: An armed forces officer is the most important eyewitness cited by the Government Railway Police (GRP), Borivali, in their case against dismissed RPF constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary, who shot dead his team leader and three Muslim passengers in Jaipur Mumbai Central Superfast Express on July 31.

**EDS: SCREENSHOT VIA PTTI VIDEO** Mumbai: Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawan accused of shooting four persons dead on board the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express train being brought to the Borivali Police Station, Monday, July 31, 2023. The incident took place near the Palghar railway station, around 100 km from Mumbai, while the train was on its way to Mumbai from Jaipur. (PTI Photo) (PTI07_31_2023_000017B) (PTI)

The eyewitness had seen Chaudhary arguing with his immediate superior, assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena and later gunning him down.

According to GRP officials, nobody else on the train had witnessed Chetan fire at Meena. The name of the witness has been withheld for security concerns.

According to the 1,097-page chargesheet filed by the GRP at the Borivali metropolitan magistrate court, the key eyewitness, a resident of Rajasthan, was travelling to Mumbai for work and was seated on seat 72 of the B5 coach, in which the RPF constable killed Meena. In his statement to the police, the witness said that he had heard Chaudhary and Meena argue. According to the eyewitness, Chaudhary expressed concerns over his health after he was not allowed to get down at Valsad station.

The witness informed the police that around 5.30am he was waiting outside the bathroom when he saw Chetan and Meena arguing near the door. The witness even tried to intervene and calm Chetan down to convince him to listen to his superior, but in vain.

A few seconds later, the witness heard a gunshot. “As I looked up, I saw a second shot being fired by Chaudhary and ASI Meena was wailing in pain,” said the witness in his statement.

The witness said that as he was in a state of shock the only thing he could do was run away -- towards the next coach – B6 where he hid on a seat near the window. GRP officers said that the witness had returned to his hometown after the incident and was therefore not immediately available to record his statement.

Like this key witness, the GRP chargesheet against Chetan contains statements of 39 other witnesses who had seen him fire from his rifle on the three Muslim passengers in coaches B5, S6 and the pantry – Kadarbhai Bhanpurwala, 62, Saifuddin Sayed, 43, and Azgar Abbas Ali Shaikh, 48.

The 50-year-old Ibrahim, a tours and travel company employee, who was in the S5 coach at the time of the incident, was travelling with his wife and two kids. Ibrahim, a resident of Mahim told the police that at 5.45am when he woke up, he saw a woman running from S6 coach towards S4 shouting “Maar Daala,” when Ibrahim stopped her and asked “madam, kya hua” (madam what happened?) “woh mar Gaya kya?” (did he die), the woman replied: “agar goli maarega toh marega hi na (one will definitely die, if fired at).”

Ibrahim then went towards the door and saw a policeman walking towards him with a rifle. The policeman then pointed the rifle at Ibrahim when he shouted “Kya kar raha hai” (what are you doing). Seeing Ibrahim panic, the other passengers too started shouting. Ibrahim then pulled the chain of the train when Chaudhary asked his name noted down his mobile number and left. A train guard named Vikas Jena then came to the coach and enquired with people to find out who had pulled the chain. Eventually, he reached to Ibrahim and asked why he pulled the chain. Ibrahim told Jena that he was being threatened by a police officer with a rifle.

Ibrahim told the police that he was saved by the chaos by the passengers in his compartment, which eventually stopped the killing spree of the dismissed RPF constable.

Another passenger, 37-year-old Bhiwandi resident, Jitendra told the police that when he saw the body of a passenger lying in coach S6 and Chaudhary standing in his pool of blood with a rifle, he realised that the victim was the same man who had exchanged seats with his wife.

Jitendra told the police that he was travelling with his wife and kids after visiting his father-in-law in the hospital in Rajasthan. Since all four seats were scattered, he had requested Azgar Ali to change seats with his wife. Ali who was travelling on seat 34 shifted to seat 45. At 5.15 Jitendra woke up and went to the bathroom. When he returned, he saw Chaudhary talking to a man in seat numbers 47 and 48. “Within a second, I heard a shot being fired and the words “Yaa Allah” from the victim. When the man fell on the floor and I saw Chaudhary standing in the pool of his blood, I noticed that it was the same man whom I had exchanged my seat with.

Jitendra then ran towards his wife and kids who were scared when he saw Chaudhary talking to the other passengers in the S6 coach. “When I looked up again, I saw Chaudhary walking towards coach S5 with his rifle,” said Jitendra. He added that at 6am when the train stopped at Borivali station, they learnt about the entire incident.

Chaudhary was arrested after he got off the train and tried to flee.