In an unfortunate incident, a 33-year-old Railway Police Force (RPF) constable allegedly shot assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena (57) and other three passengers dead on Monday.
The accused has been identified as constable Chetan Singh who shot four bullets at his senior.
As per an Indian Express report, Chetan Singh had reported that he was unwell due to which he wanted to be relieved from duty few hours before his shift ended. However, his seniors insisted him on completing his duty.
Following the development, the constable got agitated and subsequently shot Meena and three other passengers in the speeding train dead.
According to another RPF constable Amay Acharya, Singh insisted on being relieved from duty early and to be dropped off at Valsad railway station. However, Meena was trying to explain to him that they will reach Mumbai in two or three hours and insisted on completing his duty.
As Chetan Singh didn’t agree with him, Meena informed Mumbai Central control room who instead asked him to convince him. The ASI even called their Assistant Security Commissioner Sujit Kumar. He also tried to make him understand but Singh was not ready to listen to anyone.
After 10 to 15 minutes, Singh suddenly got up and forcefully took the rifle from Acharya. As Acharya was not ready to give the rifle, he even tried to strangle me. At last Singh managed to take his rifle. Acharya along with other RPF men chased him and took custody of his rifle.
“Singh was very furious. Meena was still trying to explain to him but Singh kept arguing. Even I intervened in between and tried to make him understand, but he was not listening to anybody. So I decided to go away from there,” Acharya’s statement to police read.
However, when Acharya was in another coach, he got a call from his batchmate at around 5 am and was informed that Singh had shot Meena.
“I was scared that Singh would fire bullets at me, so I went and hid inside the washroom,” said Acharya.
Ten minutes later, the train stopped between Mira Road and Dahisar railway station. Acharya saw that three other passengers were also shot while Singh had gotten off on the track.