There was a scuffle between constable Singh and ASI Meena: Police

The police said when they saw ASI Meena’s body, they found his belt was broken and his uniform in disarray. They said this indicates that the shooting was preceded by a scuffle between the two.

MUMBAI: There might have been a scuffle between Railway Police Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh, 33, and his superior ASI Tikaram Meena, 57. before the former shot the latter dead on an express train early on Monday, police have said.

RPF constable Chetan Singh accused for killing four people including his superior onboard the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express on Monday taken from lock up to the Magistrate court at Borivali, in Mumbai on Tuesday. Singh was remanded in police custody till August 7. (VIJAY BATE/HT PHOtO)

The police said when they saw Meena’s body, they found his belt was broken and his uniform in disarray. They said this indicates that the shooting was preceded by a scuffle between the two.

In what appears to be a hate crime, after killing his senior, Singh went on to kill three Muslim passengers on Jaipur Mumbai Central Superfast Express.

On Tuesday, the metropolitan magistrate court in Borivali remanded Singh in police custody till August 7. The Government Railway Police (GRP), Borivali, had filed an application before the court seeking 14 days custody remand.

Claiming to be feeling uneasy, Singh had reportedly sought to get off at Valsad. However, ASI Meena tried to persuade him to complete the duty. The shooting began sometime later.

According to the police, Singh first shot Meena point blank just as he exited the toilet located at one end of coach B-5 around 5.15am, minutes after the train crossed Vaitarna station.

Singh, who was armed with an automatic assault rifle and 20 rounds of ammunition, then killed a passenger identified as Abdul Kaderbhai Bhanpurwala, 60, in the same compartment.

Singh then crossed four coaches from B-4 to B-1, leaving passengers in these compartments untouched. He then entered the pantry car where he shot dead another passenger, who has been identified as Syed Saifuddin Moinuddin from Bidar, Karnataka. He worked as a mobile repairer and his family stays in Hyderabad.

From the pantry car, Singh then crossed two other coaches, S-8 and S-7, again leaving the passengers in them unscathed, before stopping at S-6, which is a reserved sleeper class compartment. There, he trained his gun on another passenger, Asghar Abbas Ali, 48, and shot him dead.

All three passengers were bearded. As Asghar Ali’s body toppled onto the narrow corridor, Singh rested the hilt of his assault weapon on the side seat and began a short hate-filled rant against Muslims. He asked the passengers to record it on their phones for the media’s consumption.

According to GRP’s application when the express train halted near Mira Road station, as some passenger had pulled the emergency chain, Singh got down and started walking along the tracks.

“When the complainant (Singh’s colleague Aman Acharya) slightly opened the door of the coach and peeped, he noticed that Singh had got down and was walking along the tracks. He had his AKM rifle in his hands and fired some rounds towards the train,” said the remand application.

He later dumped his rifle on the tracks and started running towards Mira Road station when some GRP and RPF personnel arrested Singh, it added.

The remand application added that ASI Meena and the arrested RPF constable were posted in the airconditioned coaches of Jaipur Express.

The RPF team boarded the train at Surat. During the journey Singh started complaining that he was feeling uneasy and sought to get off at Valsad. ASI Meena tried to persuade him to complete the duty, as the destination – Mumbai Central was barely two hours away.

Singh, however, insisted and subsequently spoke to a senior official through RPF control and was asked to complete the duty and get himself medically examined at Mumbai Central. Acharya then went and brought a cold drink for Singh, who refused to drink it.

Singh then laid down on a berth in an A/C coach and Acharya sat down on the next berth with Singh’s rifle.

Acharya said Singh, however, did not sleep. A few minutes later the restless constable demanded his ARM rifle back from Acharya and took away Acharya’s rifle, said the remand application. It added that after Acharya realised that Singh had mistakenly taken his rifle, he followed him to B5 and gave Singh’s rifle to him and took his own from him.

Acharya, according to the remand, noted that Singh was very angry when he met Meena in B5 again. He saw Singh pointing his rifle towards Meena and quietly left for the safety of the pantry car after noticing that Singh had unlocked the safety latch of his rifle and it was risky to wait in B5 compartment. Acharya returned to B5 only after seeing Singh get off the train near Mira Road station.