Train firing: RPF cop booked for promoting enmity, kidnapping; police remand extended

Mumbai, August 7

Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh, arrested on charges of gunning down his senior officer and three passengers on a moving train last week, has also been booked for promoting enmity between groups and kidnapping, while a court in Mumbai on Monday extended his police custody till August 11.

The Government Railway Police (GRP), probing the July 31 shooting on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express, have added a few more sections of the Indian Penal, including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 363 (kidnapping), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement), in the FIR (first information report) filed against Singh, defence lawyers said.

Earlier, the 34-year-old cop had been booked for offences under IPC section 302 (murder) and relevant provisions of the Arms Act and the Railways Act.

Amid tight security, Singh was produced before a magistrate’s court in suburban Borivali at the end of this previous remand.

The GRP sought his custody for another seven days, saying the incident took place on a running train that started from Jaipur and they need to collect CCTV footage of various spots as part of their investigation.

Also, statements of witnesses who were inside the train at the time of the gruesome killings were yet to be recorded, they said.

Advocates Surendra Landage, Amit Mishra and Azad Gupta—appearing for Singh—opposed the remand extension plea, saying sufficient time has been granted to the probe agency for interrogation of the accused.

The defence also pointed out that the police were yet to submit a report on the medical health condition of the accused.

The magistrate, after hearing both sides, extended Singh’s police custody for four more days – till August 11.

The magistrate, like last week, again did not allow media persons and lawyers not connected with the case to enter the courtroom citing security reasons.

The shooting took place in the wee hours of Monday last (July 31) when the Mumbai-bound train was near Palghar station on the outskirts of the financial capital.

Singh allegedly gunned down his senior—RPF Assistant Sub-Inspector Tikaram Meena – and three passengers travelling in different bogies with his automatic weapon, GRP officials have said.

The motive behind the killings was not yet known.

The RPF cop was nabbed with his weapon later while trying to flee after passengers pulled the chain of the train which stopped near Mira Road station (on the Mumbai suburban network).

The deceased passengers were identified as Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala (48), a resident of Nalasopara in Palghar district, Asgar Abbas Sheikh (48), a native of Madhubani in Bihar and Sayyad Saifuddin, originally from Bidar in Karnataka who had settled in Hyderabad.

The Railway Board has set up a five-member committee to separately probe the incident.