Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 31: In a shocking incident, a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable shot dead four people, including his superior in RPF Tikaram Meena, an Assistant Sub-Inspector, and three passengers on-board the running Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express train near the Palghar railway station in Maharashtra on early Monday morning. He was later arrested while attempting to run away.
“Four casualties, including the ASI, have been reported in the firing incident inside the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express (12956). The accused has been arrested. DCP North GRP has been informed,” the Railway Protection Force said.
“An unfortunate incident has been reported today in Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express. An RPF constable, Chetan Kumar Singh opened fire on his colleague ASI Tikaram Meena and during the incident, three other passengers were also shot. According to a preliminary investigation, he opened fire using his official weapon. The accused has been arrested. The reason for the firing is not clear yet, we are investigating it,” said CPRO Western Railway.
The accused, RPF Constable Chetan Singh, opened fire from his official automatic weapon around five in the morning, killing his RPF superior, his escort duty in charge ASI Tikaram Meena, and three passengers on the train, which was on the way to Mumbai from Jaipur, officials said. He fired 12 rounds.
Addressing the media, Inspector General of RPF (Western Railway) Praveen Sinha said, “Chetan Singh had a short fuse, he was quite hot-headed. There was no altercation. He just lost his temper and shot his senior, then fired at whoever he saw.”
“Constable Chetan Singh fired on Party in-charge ASI Tikaram Meena from his ARM Rifle and one unknown Passenger at Coach No B 5, and then fired on two other unknown Passenger in Coach No S 6 and Pantry car attached to the train. At about 6:18, the train reached Borivali and four dead bodies were retrieved by GRP and RPF officers and staff. The passengers are yet to be identified. Constable Chetan has been detained, and his ARM recovered,” the RPF said in an official statement.
The Western Railways has said they are conducting a high level enquiry. The accused was posted in Lower Parel, they said. He was caught by police at Mira Road with the help of Government Railway Police and RPF officials. After killing his senior, the constable went to another bogie and shot dead three passengers, officials said.
The RPF constable opened fire inside the moving train after it crossed Palghar Station, pulled the chain and got out of the train near Dahisar Station but was caught at Mira Road station, the CPRO said. Two other RPF jawans were accompanying them, and the police is recording their statements, they said. According to railway officials, four RPF personnel, including the accused, were escorting the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express from Surat station in Gujarat on Monday.
The four-member team earlier escorted Dadar-Porbandar Saurashtra Express up to Surat station the previous day. On the return journey, the escorting party was guarding the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express, a senior railway official said.
The escort parties generally have four to five personnel of the GRP and RPF in a long distance train. They provide security to trains in their respective railway divisions and thereafter, counterparts from other divisions take over the responsibility of guarding the trains.
Tikaram Meena was a resident of Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur, and Chetan Singh is from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh. But in the RPF, the accused constable was attached to the Lower Parel RPF post while Meena was attached to the Dadar RPF post. The Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express departed from Jaipur station in Rajasthan at 2.01 pm on Sunday and reached Surat station, where the escort party boarded the train, at 2.47 am on Monday.
Meena was due for retirement in 2025. He is survived by his wife and his mother, aged 80. His 35-year-old son and 25-year-old daughter are both married. A compensation of ₹ 25 lakh has been announced for the family, besides an additional assistance of ₹ 15 lakh. The Railways has said that the family members of the other victims will also be provided compensation.