Train shootout: Ruckus by passengers stopped Chetansinh’s killing spree

A witness told the police that as he threatened her with his gun, fellow passengers began shouting and screaming at him. Possibly rattled by the unexpected angry response from the passengers, Chaudhary left her and walked ahead.

MUMBAI: Investigations by the Government Railway Police (GRP) into the shootout on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express train on July 31, have revealed that Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetansinh Chaudhary had planned to kill more people in the train but stopped his killing spree after passengers in coach S5 created a ruckus and started shouting at him after he pointed his loaded gun towards a Burkha-clad woman.

Chetansinh Chaudhary is accused of killing four people including his superior on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express (HT File Photo/Vijay Bate)

Before alighting from the train near Borivali railway station, the 33-year-old RPF constable had stopped in coach S5 where he went after killing Azgar Ali, a passenger in coach S6, and making a speech, and telling passengers to make a video recording of it.

“Chaudhary had seven rounds remaining in his automatic ARM rifle and wanted to kill more people for which he had gone to coach S5. Inside the coach, he pointed his gun at a burka clad woman and threatened her,” a police officer said.

The woman and her husband, who were travelling to Mumbai from Jaipur, told the police that as he threatened her, fellow passengers began shouting and screaming at him. Possibly rattled by the unexpected response from the passengers, Chaudhary left her and walked ahead.

The couple said they thought that his ammunition was over and that was the reason why they were spared. However, after getting off the train, they were informed that Chaudhary’s gun had more ammunition and he had fired some rounds towards the train.

Apart from the woman, Chaudhary had also threatened another passenger, Jaffar Khan in coach B2, where he had targetted his second victim, Sayyed Saifuddin.

GRP said that after Chaudhary got off the train to flee from coach S5, a train guard too got off the train, hearing the ruckus but Chaudhary threatened him with his gun and told him to return to the train.

“That is when the guard saw the blood in Chaudhary’s feet and climbed up the train again,” said an official.

GRP have also recorded the statement of a man from coach B5 who had heard ASI Meena’s last words before he died.

The passenger told the police that at 4.50am he woke up and walked towards the bathroom when he saw Meena and Chaudhary speaking in the passageway near the door. He walked past them and entered the bathroom. Soon thereafter he heard a loud noise (of firing).

The witness said thereafter, he locked himself inside the bathroom for some time. He then called his mother on phone and narrated that he heard someone being shot. His mother then called her brother, who in turn called back the witness and instructed him to stay inside the bathroom for some more time.

“After some time, the man, who in his mid-twenties, peeped outside and saw Meena lying dead in the door passageway,” said the officer.

The witness was so scared that for about one-and-half hours he stayed locked inside the bathroom and came out only when the train reached Borivali station around 6.15 am. “The man was in a state of shock and was not in a position to record his statement for days,” added the officer.

Another witness who was sitting on a berth near Abdul Kadar Bhanpurwala – Chaudhary’s second victim -- and was chatting with him during the journey told police that at Vaitarna station Bhanpurwala went to the door with his luggage preparing to get off.

“Neither the witness nor Bhanpurwala heard the gunshot that killed Meena. The witness said there was a gap of about 20 minutes after Chaudhary shot dead Meena and Bhapurwala,” the police officer said.

This witness, who is 21-year-old, saw Bhanpurwala walk off and after a few minutes he saw Chaudhary walk past him seconds after shooting Bhanpurwala near the other door of the B5 compartment.

Chaudhary, according to the GRP, then walked into coach B2 and aimed at his third victim and killed him there.