Jaipur-Mumbai train firing: GRP probe team recreates crime scene

Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

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

The GRP team from the Borivali Railway Police Station on Tuesday went to Mumbai Central car shed where the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express was parked and visited 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 for Jaipur-Mumbai train firing, the official told PTI.

However, RPF constable Chetan Singh (34), 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 is currently in the Government Railway Police's custody.

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

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

The team has also recorded statements of eyewitnesses, the official told PTI.

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

Chetan 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.

(With inputs from PTI)