On Monday morning, July 31, shocking news surfaced, a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable shot dead four people while travelling on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express. The incident took place near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra. The deceased included a senior colleague and three Muslim passengers.
By Monday evening, disturbing videos of the incident went viral on social media. Amongst the videos showing the cold blooded murders, one video showed the uniformed constable standing near a bleeding body of a man and stating the following: “If you want to vote, if you want to live in Hindustan, then I am saying, Modi and Yogi, they are the two, and your Thackeray.”
In 1925, the Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was established by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. He emphasised the importance of nurturing Hindu culture as a means of safeguarding India. Over the past 100 years, there have been instances of violence against innocent Muslims carried out under the pretext of protecting the country and religion. Some argue that extremist right-wing ideologies and the Sangh pariwar have contributed to fostering anti-Muslim sentiments, leading to targeted violence perpetrated by their supporters.
The perpetrator of this heinous targeted crime has been identified as constable Chetan Singh, aged 34. The murder suspect hails from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh. Three of the deceased have been identified as Tika Ram Meena, RPF assistant sub-inspector; Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala, aged 48, a resident of Nalasopara in Palghar (around 100km from Mumbai); and Asgar Abbas Sheikh, aged 48, a resident of Madhubani in Bihar.
As per the report of the Wire, the murders were carried out in different coaches of the train, and all the victims had beards, suggesting that he picked his victims amongst the passengers. According to the PTI and Hindustan Times, Singh first shot dead a senior officer, Tikaram Meena in coach B-5. He then shot and killed a passenger, Abdul Kaderbhai Bhanpurwala, a passenger in the same coach. Singh then walked through four coaches without using his weapon until he came across a passenger in the pantry car, identified as Sadar Mohammed Hussain, and killed him Singh then walked through two other coaches before shooting his third victim, Asghar Abbas Shaikh in coach S-6. All three passengers were bearded, as per the Hindustan Times report.
A video of the uniformed constable standing near the dead body of Asghar and giving a islamophobic and hate filled speech, while raising a call for voting for PM Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi, went viral on social media. “They are operating from Pakistan. Your media, this country’s media is showing the news, they are getting to know everything, these people’s masters are there. If you want to vote, if you want to live in Hindustan, then I am saying, Modi and Yogi, they are the two, and your Thackeray.”
The video can be viewed here: (Trigger Warning, disturbing content.)
“Agar Vote dena hai, Hindustan mei rahna hai to Modi aur Yogi Yahi do hai”
Horrible crime committed by #RPF Jawan Chetan Kumar, who shot four people dead, including three Muslims and one police officer. After Killing them, he hailed Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi. pic.twitter.com/yAScFf8SZi
— Meer Faisal (@meerfaisal01) July 31, 2023
As per a report of The Indian Express, a fight had allegedly broken out between ASI Meena and Singh following “an argument over communities”, though the reason behind the shooting is yet to be clear.
A 25-year-old RPF constable, who is the complainant in the case, said that Singh tried to strangulate him before going on the firing spree, a GRP official said. Singh shot dead RPF assistant sub-inspector Meena and another passenger in the B5 coach with his automatic weapon after 5am. He then shot dead another passenger in the pantry car five coaches away and went on to kill one more passenger in S6 coach, which is the eighth bogie from the B5 coach, an official said, as per the Telegraph. According to the GRP, Singh fired 12 rounds from his automatic weapon.
Notably, ASI Meena is survived by his wife, a 20-year-old son and a 22-year-old daughter. He was supposed to retire by 2025.
As per media reports, Singh was caught with his weapon while he was trying to flee after passengers pulled the chain of the train which stopped near Mira Road station (on the Mumbai suburban network) around 6am.
Notably, Singh’s family includes his wife and two children aged 6 and 8.
Reaction of the Officials
As per the Telegraph report, Government Railway Police (GRP) commissioner Ravindra Shisve reacted to the said incident by stating that “It is too early to jump to any conclusion, and at this stage, it will be premature to say anything and share any details about the probe.”
“This is the first-of-its-kind of incident on a running train. Passengers are scared. We want to assure them that police will investigate the incident in detail,” he added.
Shisve said the exact reason behind the incident was not known yet. The GRP has formed a special investigation team to probe the murders.
Pravin Chandra Sinha, principal chief security commissioner, Western Railway, told the Telegraph that “He (Chetan) was not upset. He was a bit unwell… later he lost his cool.” When he was further asked whether Chetan had any mental health issues, Sinha stated that “He had a short fuse and lost his temper, leading to the incident.”
“Chetan never showed any sign of mental imbalance”: Family of the constable
After the details of the aforementioned disturbing came out, media reports suggesting that the police are investigating if the constable has any mental ailment started making rounds. Bhagwan Singh Chaudhary, who identified himself as an uncle of the RPF constable, told the Telegraph that “Chetan never showed any sign of mental imbalance”. Bhagwan Singh also told local reporters that Chetan had got the job in 2009 in place of his father, who was also a constable in RPF and had died on duty.
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