4 shot dead by RPF man in hate crime on moving train

An armed 33-year-old Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express shot dead four people, including his senior officer, as the train moved through suburban Mumbai on Monday morning, in what appeared to be a hate crime. All three passengers killed were Muslims.

- Megha Sood

 

Constable Chetan Singh first shot his senior officer Tikaram Meena,59, from point blank range just as Meena exited the train toilet located at one end of coach B-5. Some news reports mention an argument between the two, but HT could not independently confirm that.

That was at 5.15am, minutes after the express train crossed Vaitarna station. Singh, who was armed with an automatic assault rifle and 20 rounds of ammunition, then killed a passenger who has been identified as Abdul Kaderbhai Bhanpurwala, 60, who was seated on his berth in the same compartment.

After killing these two men in coach B-5, Singh crossed four other coaches from B-4 to B-1, leaving passengers in these compartments untouched before entering the pantry car where he shot dead a passenger who was identified as Sadar Mohammed Hussain, according to news agency PTI.

From the pantry car, Singh then crossed two other coaches, S-8 and S-7, again leaving the passengers in them unscathed, before stopping at S-6, which is a reserved sleeper class compartment. There, he trained his gun on another passenger Asghar Abbas Ali, 35, and shot him dead.

All three passengers were bearded. As Asghar Ali’s body toppled onto the narrow corridor, Singh rested the hilt of his assault weapon on the side seat and began a short hate-filled rant against Muslims that he asked the bystanders to record for the media’s consumption.