Firing in train: Ex-RPF constable's bail plea hearing adjourned until Dec 8

A Mumbai court on Friday adjourned the bail plea of dismissed Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh until December 8 as the prosecution sought time to file a response to his application.

He is accused of shooting dead his senior colleague and three passengers on a moving train on July 31 this year in the Mumbai-Jaipur Express train.

The railway police requested time to file a response to the bail plea, and the Dindoshi court adjourned it until December 8, as per Advocate Amit Mishra.

The accused had previously filed for bail at the Dindoshi Session Court in Maharashtra. His bail plea was submitted through lawyers Amit Mishra and Pankaj Ghildiyal, with the claim that he had been suffering from mental illness.

Advocate Amit Mishra stated, "The accused was suffering from mental disease. He lived in an imaginary and delusional world and suffered from neurological and psychological issues."

The court had instructed the prosecution to submit a reply to the plea. Advocate Mishra had mentioned that the hearing was scheduled for December 1. However, the police had contested the bail plea of the dismissed RPF constable.

Three railway passengers and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the Railway Protection Force, were shot dead allegedly by the RPF jawan onboard the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express after it crossed Palghar Station in Maharashtra on July 31.

The Government Railway Police (GRP), in its charge sheet filed earlier, said that Singh is completely sane and was aware of what he was doing.

In the over 1,000-page chargesheet filed before a local court in the Mumbai suburbs, the GRP stated that it relied on the depositions of over 150 witnesses before coming to this conclusion.

According to the GRP officers, they recorded the statements of three of such witnesses before the Borivali Metropolitan Magistrate Court under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

In addition to the witness testimonies, the investigators also relied on the CCTV footage from inside the train, where Chetan Singh is seen moving between compartments, looking for potential victims.

A high-level committee headed by the Additional Director-General of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) was constituted to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the Mumbai train firing incident.