Four killed on Jaipur-Mumbai train | Ex-RPF cop forced me to say ‘Jai Mata Di’: Burqa-clad woman passenger to court

Chaudhary, who is currently lodged in Thane jail, was produced in court through video-conference.

Chaudhary is facing trial for the murders of his senior, Assistant Sub Inspector Tikaram Meena and three Muslim passengers — Asgar Ali Abbas, Abdul Kader Bhanpurwala and Syed Saifuddin, on the Jaipur-Mumbai train on July 31, 2023.

The 38-year-old woman told the court that on the day of the incident, she was travelling to Mumbai from Ratlam on the train with her two children.

The woman said that around 5.30 am, when she woke up, she saw a man in a police uniform carrying a rifle walk towards her. She said that he pointed the rifle towards her.

“He told me iss desh mein rehna hai toh ‘Jai Mata Di’ bolo (Say ‘Jai Mata Di’ if you want to live in this country),” the woman told the court.

The woman said that she repeated it but he told her to say it louder and threatened her that he would shoot her otherwise.

The woman said that she caught his rifle and raised it upward and asked him who he was. The woman said that the man then told her not to touch the gun, and again threatened to shoot her.

The passenger said she was frightened and released the rifle, after which he went away.

The woman told the court that she alighted at Borivali when the train stopped and came to know that there were dead bodies lying in another coach.

The police claimed that after another passenger, who deposed during the previous hearing, pulled the chain, the train stopped and Chaudhary alighted. He was arrested while trying to flee from the railway tracks.

Responding to questions put to her by Chaudhary’s lawyer, she told court that she had not immediately disclosed about the incident after alighting from the train, as she was scared. She said that when police made calls to her subsequently, she came forward and told them about the incident.

Chaudhary faces charges including promoting enmity on grounds of religion, as he is alleged to have chosen the victims based on visible markers of religion.

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