Jaipur-Mumbai Train Firing: Police Focuses On Accused Constable's Mental Health Evaluation, Excludes Possibility Of Hate Crime From Remand Copy

The police remand copy seeking the custody of Railway Protection Force constable Chetan Singh, who allegedly shot and killed four persons on board a Jaipur – Mumbai train, doesn’t mention his alleged hate filled utterances after the act or seek his custody to probe a possible communal motive behind the murder.

Instead, the remand focuses on Singh’s ill health and seeks a scientific evaluation of his mental health as the first ground for his custody. Singh may be absolved of all his alleged wrongdoings if insanity is proved.

During the wee hours of Monday, RPF constable Chetan Singh allegedly tried to strangulate his colleague, fired four rounds on his immediate senior Railway Protection Force ASI Tikaram Meena, and then travelled to different bogies and murdered three passengers - visibly distinguished by their religious identity.

The passengers have been identified as Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala (58), a resident of Nalasopara in Palghar and Asgar Abbas Sheikh (48), a resident of Madhubani in Bihar and Sayed Saifuddin alias Sayed Safiullah (43) from Hyderabad.

During this time, in a video widely reported by the media, Singh, standing next to a body, is purportedly heard saying: "...Pakistan se operate hue, aur media yehi coverage dikha rahi hai, unko sab pata chal raha hai ye kya kar rahe hain... Agar vote dena hai, agar Hindustan mein rehna hai to mai kehta hoon Modi aur Yogi, ye do hain."

Singh was subsequently apprehended after he alighted from the train on Monday morning. The Borivali Railway Police have booked him under sections 302 (murder), 151 (unlawful assembly), 152 (assaults public servant) and 153 (wantonly giving provocation for riot) of the IPC and a Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday remanded him in police custody till August 7.

However, neither do these statements find mention in the remand copy or the FIR nor have the police mentioned they would be probing ‘possible communal violence’ as the motive for the crime.

According to the remand, Chetan Singh and ASI Meena were deployed as escorts in the AC coach while the complainant and RPF constable Amay Acharya and another head constable were in the sleeper coach.

Acharya states in the FIR that he met Singh and Meena in the pantry. During this time Meena told him that Singh was feeling unwell. Acharya touched him but couldn’t gauge his temperature.

Thereafter Singh apparently insisted on being dropped off at Valsad railway station. However, Meena tried convince him to complete his duty as they would be reaching Mumbai in two hours.

Singh disagreed and Meena informed the Control Room. Meena in fact even called Assistant Security Commissioner Sujit Kumar but Singh was not ready to listen to anyone, according to Acharya’s statement.

Meena then asked Singh to rest for a while and for Acharya to get a soda for him. After 10-15 minutes he got up and forcefully took the rifle from Acharya, the FIR states. “As I was not ready to give the rifle, he even tried to strangulate me,” Acharya told police.

Subsequently Acharya says he got his rifle back from Singh but as he turned back to return to his coach Singh was in the process of removing the safety lock from his rifle. But Acharya went back to sleep, according to the FIR.

Later, Acharya said he learned Singh had fired at their senior Meena. He later also saw Singh was in ‘firing mode’. Acharya tried to alert passengers but also himself hid in the train’s washroom for a while. Acharya later saw that three other passengers were also murdered.

However, neither the FIR nor the remand describe the deceased.

The list of reasons for seeking Singh’s custody include, scientific test on Singh’s mental health, ascertain the sequence of events and collect more evidence, the exact motive of the crime.

The police is keen on probing if Singh had some dispute with his senior Meena, and the purpose for allegedly killing the three passengers. Moreover, the intention behind the deaths.

Another reason cited for Singh’s custody is to collect his finger prints, and understand if he killed on someone’s instructions.

The police is likely to record statements of several witnesses and would add further details from its probe when Singh is produced in court next on August 7.