Mumbai Court Frames Murder Charge Against RPF Constable For Opening Fire In Moving Train

In a development in the infamous case of a Railway Police Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh Choudhary opening fire and killing three persons in a running passenger train, a Mumbai Court, earlier this week, framed charges of murder against him.

Singh, who shot his senior and two passengers on July 31, 2023, when he was on the escort duty in a Jaipur-Mumbai train, has pleaded "not guilty."

Additional Sessions Judge NL More framed charges of murder punishable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also invoked various relevant provisions of the Railways Act and Arms Act.

Confirming the development, Singh's counsel Amit Mishra informed LiveLaw that his client was brought in the court and Judge More read out the charges under which he will be tried.

"He initially pleaded guilty but later after speaking to his family and us he pleaded not guilty," the counsel said.

The matter has been now adjourned till August 20, for the prosecution to commence with the trial in the case.

"The prosecution will hand over a list of witnesses it proposes to examine against Singh and also the list of evidence on which it tends to rely on," Mishra said.

As per the prosecution case, Singh was on an escort duty on the relevant day and as the train entered Mumbai, he shot 20 rounds of fire from his rifle killing a senior assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Mina and passengers Kadarbhai Banapurwala, Saifuddin Sayyed and Asgar Abbas. He is accused of hurling communal abuses against the passengers before killing them.