Chetan Singh (30), a Railway Protection Force constable, who was part of a team escorting the Jaipur-Mumbai Superfast Express, shot and killed four men on the running train between Vaitarna and Mira Road stations.
Three of the victims were passengers while the fourth, Tikaram Meena, an assistant sub-inspector with RPF, was heading the escort team.
The shootings, which took place across coaches, lasted nearly 40 minutes. Singh, was chased and nabbed by Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel at Mira Road, in Mumbai’s suburbs, after he got off the stationary train and tried to flee. The trigger for the incident is still being investigated. A viral video clip shows Singh standing next to the body of a victim on the train and ranting to terrorised passengers about “Pakistan '' and “media coverage” before naming three political personalities.
According to reports, Singh first got into an altercation with three travellers in Surat. He was uneasy as the train approached Valsad and insisted on getting off. His coworkers took away his weapon and asked him to take a break. A communication was sent to the control room to deploy another constable to replace him as he persisted in arguing with Meena about wanting to go. However, a while later, Singh said he was feeling better and resumed duty. His colleagues went off to patrol other sections of the train while Meena and Singh were in coach B5. At 5.15 am, as the train neared Vaitarna station, Singh pumped four bullets into Meena from his automatic rifle which was loaded with 20 bullets. In the same compartment, he also gunned down Kadar Bhanpurwala (62).
For the next 40 minutes or so, Singh strutted across several coaches with the weapon. He crossed five bogies to reach the pantry car where he killed a second passenger. Then he moved to another compartment and shot dead another passenger.