RPF cop who went on shooting spree to be examined at Thane mental hospital

RPF constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary, accused of a July 2023 train shooting, will be moved to Thane Jail for mental health evaluation amid trial.

MUMBAI: RPF constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary, currently lodged in Akola Central Jail after having allegedly shot his senior and 3 Muslim passengers in a train in July 2023, will be shifted to Thane Central Jail so that he can be examined at Thane Regional Mental Hospital, as per an order passed on Tuesday by a sessions court.

Thane, India - October 05, 2023: Thane mental hospital all set to be the largest mental hospital in Maharashtra with state-of-the-art facilities, in Thane, India, on Thursday, October 05, 2023. ( Praful Gangurde / HT Photo )

In the last hearing, the court received a letter from the Akola Central Jail Superintendent asking for permission to take Chaudhry, 34, to the Nagpur Regional Mental Hospital, as recommended by doctors in the Akola Government Hospital, where Chaudhary had been taken for treatment on December 19, 2024.

However, public prosecutor Sudhir Sapkale suggested that he should be brought to Thane Mental Hospital instead, so that he could also be produced in court during the trial.

Objecting to the proposal, advocate Fazlurrahman Shaikh, who had also filed his written objection in court, said that Chaudhury had been claiming to be suffering from a mental disorder right from the start. But the charge sheet that quoted his own doctor showed no evidence of him being mentally disturbed. Now, he was again trying the same ploy to create a defence for himself, argued Shaikh.

However, additional sessions judge Nandkishor L More pointed out that the accused had not filed any plea of insanity. “We cannot deny treatment (to an accused) if doctors recommend it. Let the doctors opine on his condition,” the court said.

Dictating the order in court, the judge said, “The trial has already begun. The jail authorities are finding it difficult to produce the accused in court. Due to internet problems, the accused has not even been produced through video-conferencing. Therefore, for the sake of the convenience of the jail authorities and the accused, it is desirable that the accused may be referred to the regional mental hospital Thane for medical examination. During this period, the accused must be lodged in Thane Central Jail.”

In December 2023, Chaudhary had pleaded “partial insanity” in his bail application. The court had rejected it, saying “the accused not only committed the murder of ASI Tikaram Meena but also three other passengers of a particular community by making them specific targets and uttered words which clearly show that he was in a well-settled position and mind to commit murder of (members of) a particular community.”

The shooting incident took place on July 31, 2023, when Singh, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, allegedly gunned down RPF assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena and three passengers named Abdul Kadar, Asgar Abbas Ali, and Syed Saifullah. The chargesheet filed by the government railway police said Singh was completely sane and aware of the crime at the time of the incident.