A Railway Protection Force constable on Monday shot dead his senior colleague and three passengers in two bogies and a pantry car on board the moving Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra, officials said.
He was nabbed later while trying to flee after pulling the chain of the train which stopped between Mira Road and Dahisar stations (on Mumbai suburban network).
Constable Chetan Singh (34) shot dead RPF assistant sub-inspector Tika Ram Meena and another passenger in B5 coach with his automatic weapon. He shot dead another passenger in B6 coach, and one more in the pantry car located between B5 and B6 coaches, a railway official said.
The deceased passengers were identified as Abdul Qadirbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala (48), Akhtar Abbas Ali (48), and Sadar Mohammed Hussain.
Earlier in the day, the GRP control room and a senior official had identified the accused as Chetan Kumar Choudhary.
In the afternoon, GRP commissioner Ravindra Shisve told reporters the constable has been identified as Chetan Singh.
According to an official, Singh was later nabbed by Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel and his weapon was seized while he was trying to flee when the train stopped between Mira Road and Dahisar stations after passengers pulled the chain.
Palghar is around 100 km from Mumbai.
"The incident occurred after 5 am after the Mumbai-bound Jaipur Superfast Express crossed Vapi station (in Gujarat). RPF constable Chetan Singh, who was on escort duty, opened fire at his senior Tika Ram Meena and went on shooting dead three more passengers in different bogies of the train," Government Railway Police (GRP) commissioner Ravindra Shisve told media-persons.
He said the exact reason behind the incident is not known yet as an investigation is underway.
"Police are enquiring with passengers and RPF personnel, who were part of the escort party, and staffers of the pantry car," he said.
A senior railway official said Singh pulled the alarm chain between Mira Road and Dahisar stations at 5.59 am, jumped out of the train, and tried to flee but was nabbed.
Queried on a video purportedly showing the accused constable present near dead bodies and apparently justifying the killings, Shisve said the video clip is being examined along with other materials.
"It is too early to jump to any conclusion, and at this stage, it will be premature to comment anything and share any details about the probe," Shisve said, adding that police will investigate and examine whatever material they get.
"This is the first-of-its-kind of the incident on a running train. Passengers are scared. We want to assure them that the police will investigate the incident in detail," he added.
The GRP has formed an SIT to probe the incident.
Another senior police official said the accused RPF constable was very short-tempered.
According to GRP, Singh fired 12 rounds from his automatic weapon. The GRP recovered eight bullets from his automatic weapon after the incident.
Singh, who hails from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, is in the custody of the Mira Road railway police, the official said.
The four bodies were taken out of the train at Borivali railway station, he said.
According to railway officials, four RPF personnel, including the constable Singh, 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.
Western Railway's (WR) chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur told PTI the accused constable was attached to the Lower Parel RPF post in Mumbai, while ASI Tika Ram Meena was attached to the Dadar RPF post.
The Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express departed from Jaipur station at 2.01 pm on Sunday and reached Surat, where the escort party boarded the train at 2.47 am on Monday.
Later, the train stopped at its official halt at Vapi in Gujarat, from where it departed one minute late at 4.08 am, as per the official running status of the train.
Thakur said an alarm chain pulling happened in the train near Dahisar station (in Mumbai), where the accused constable jumped and ran away, but was nabbed at Mira Road.
(After the incident) The train was held up at Borivali station for about an hour from 6.21 am to 7.15 am. It reached its final destination Mumbai Central station at 8.07 am, about 72 minutes late, as per the train's running status
Most of the passengers from the B5 and B6 coaches alighted at Borivali station.
A senior RPF official said ASI Meena hailed from Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. He was supposed to retire in 2025.
According to railway officials, the accused constable was transferred to Mumbai from the Bhavnagar division last March and had recently visited his native place Hathras. He joined duty on July 17.
He was arrested under section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
An ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh has been announced for the kin of the deceased ASI Meena, a senior Western Railway official said.
Meena's kin will be given Rs 15 lakh from the Railway Suraksha Kalyan Nidhi (fund), apart from funeral expenses of Rs 20,000. His kin will also get a sum from the death-cum-retirement gratuity and group insurance scheme, Thakur said.
Asked about compensation for the families of the other three victims of the train firing incident, Thakur said, "Ex-gratia will be given."
Meena is survived by his wife, a 25-year-old son and two daughters aged 18 and 20 years. His daughter and son-in-law have reached the Kandivali-based hospital in Mumbai’s northern suburbs to claim the body.
Singh was staying in the barracks. His family includes his wife, two children aged 6 and 8, and his parents.
