Mumbai train shooting: Probe team recreates crime scene in Jaipur-Mumbai Superfast Express

PTI, Aug 9, 2023, 1:14 PM IST

A Government Railway Police (GRP) team on Tuesday recreated the crime scene inside the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express at a car shed here as part of their probe into the July 31 shooting by an RPF constable who allegedly killed his senior officer and three passengers in the moving train, said an official.

The GRP team from the Borivali Railway Police Station went to Mumbai Central car shed where the train was parked and visited the coaches where the killings had taken place, he said.

Prime witnesses and senior Railway Protection Force (RPF) officers were present when the crime scene was recreated, said the official.

However, RPF constable Chetan Singh, accused of gunning down his senior, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tikaram Meena, and three passengers travelling in different bogies of the Mumbai-bound train with his automatic weapon was not present during the exercise, he said.

Singh (34) is currently in the GRP’s custody.

While seeking extension of Singh’s police remand, the GRP, in their application on Monday, had told the court they wanted to take the accused to the crime spot.

The probe team has obtained CCTV footage from the train and was examining them to get more information about the gruesome killings, whose motive was not yet clear.

The team has also recorded statements of eyewitnesses, he said.

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

Singh 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.