Malad station murder: Accused Omkar Shinde sent to 14-day judicial custody

Shinde, arrested by the Borivali GRP on Sunday, was produced before a magistrate on Friday. Police said they did not seek further custodial interrogation as they had already recovered the alleged murder weapon, the clothes worn by the accused at the time of the incident, and CCTV footage linked to the crime

MUMBAI: Twenty-seven-year-old Omkar Shinde, arrested for the fatal stabbing of 33-year-old NM College lecturer Alok Singh, aboard a Mumbai local train has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, after the Government Railway Police (GRP) told a court it had gathered sufficient evidence in the case.

Malad station murder: Accused Omkar Shinde sent to 14-day judicial custody

Shinde, arrested by the Borivali GRP on Sunday, was produced before a magistrate on Friday. Police said they did not seek further custodial interrogation as they had already recovered the alleged murder weapon, the clothes worn by the accused at the time of the incident, and CCTV footage linked to the crime.

The defence, however, questioned the strength of the prosecution’s case. Advocate Yashawant Patil argued that the GRP had initially registered the offence against an unidentified person and was relying on a single eyewitness who had not seen the assailant clearly. Patil told the court that the witness only stated that the victim had said he was stabbed by “someone”, without clearly identifying Shinde as the attacker.

“The only eyewitness did not even get a proper look at the accused. Since Shinde’s face has now been widely shown in newspapers and on television channels, any test identification parade would be meaningless,” Patil submitted.

Datta Khuperkar, senior police inspector of the Borivali railway police station, said investigators were continuing to look for additional witnesses. “We are appealing to passengers who were present in the local train at the time of the incident to come forward and record their statements. We are particularly seeking women passengers who were travelling in the same compartment, as they are eyewitnesses to the incident,” he said.

Police said they had seized the weapon used in the attack, a pair of forceps recovered from outside Malad East railway station, along with the accused’s clothes from his residence, and CCTV footage of the incident. “This evidence is sufficient to establish the case in court,” an officer said.

The victim, Alok Singh, was a lecturer at Narsee Monjee College in Vile Parle West. On January 24, at around 5.30 pm, Singh was travelling with his colleague, Sudhir Kumar Trivedi, 41, on a Churchgate–Borivali-bound local train when an argument allegedly broke out between them and Shinde.

During the altercation, police said, Shinde stabbed Singh with a pair of forceps, causing fatal injuries. Singh, who taught mathematics in the junior college section, was returning to his home in Malad East at the time of the incident.