Angered by his senior’s refusal to relieve him from duty early, a 33-year-old Railway Police Force constable fired four bullets at assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena (57) early on Monday.
According to the FIR, the accused constable Chetan Singh had reported that he was unwell due to which he wanted to be relieved from duty few hours before his shift ended but as his seniors insisted on completing his duty, it agitated him following which he shot Meena and three other passengers in the speeding train.
According to another RPF constable Amay Acharya’s statement to Borivali GRP, “Singh, Meena and three other ticket checkers had met me in the pantry coach in the wee hours on Monday. Meena told me that Singh is unwell after which I touched him to check but I could not gauge whether he had fever.”
Singh insisted on being relieved from duty early and to be dropped off at Valsad railway station. However, Meena was trying to explain to him that they will reach Mumbai in two or three hours and insisted on completing his duty.
And as Singh was not agreeing with him, Meena informed Mumbai Central control room who instead asked him to convince him. The ASI had even called their Assistant Security Commissioner Sujit Kumar and even he tried to make him understand but Singh was not ready to listen to anyone, read Acharya’s statement.
Accordingly, Meena asked Acharya to get a cold drink for him and requested Singh to take rest for some time.
“I was seated next to him while he was resting but after 10 to 15 minutes he suddenly got up and forcefully took the rifle from me. As I was not ready to give the rifle, he even tried to strangle me,” Acharya told police.
Later, he realised that Singh had accidentally taken his rifle following which Acharya along with other RPF men chased him and took custody of his rifle.
“Even while returning my rifle and taking possession of his own rifle, I saw that Singh was very furious. Meena was still trying to explain to him but Singh kept arguing. Even I intervened in between and tried to make him understand, but he was not listening to either of us. So I decided to go away from there,” reads Acharya’s statement.
As he was leaving, Acharya noticed that Singh was removing the safety catch of his rifle following which he informed Meena and they subsequently asked him to calm down.
However at around 5am, when he was in another coach, Acharya got a call from his batchmate who informed him that Singh had shot Meena. “I was scared that he would fire bullets at me, so I went and hid inside the washroom,” Acharya told police.
And ten minutes later, the complainant noticed that the train had stopped between Mira Road and Dahisar railway station.
Subsequently, he saw that three other passengers were shot while Singh who had gotten off on the track with his service rifle was apprehended.
Three others were identified who were shot dead, Ajgar Abbas Shaikh, 48, Abdul Kadar bhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala, 62 and Saifuddin age nearly 40 Residence Hamilapur Bidar Karnataka State and Work in Hyderabad Telangana
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