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Journalism of Courage
IN THE murder trial against dismissed Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetansinh Chaudhary, a witness told court that one of the victims had begged for mercy and pleaded that “God is one” but was shot twice in his chest that killed him. The trial against Chaudhary resumed on Monday after it was stalled since March, when he was sent to a mental hospital for treatment.
Constable Narendra Parmar, who was also dismissed by the RPF, citing “failure to discharge duty”, deposed before the Dindoshi sessions court. He was also on the Jaipur-Mumbai train on July 31, 2023, where Chaudhary is alleged to have killed his senior, assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena, and three Muslim passengers — Asgar Ali Abbas, Abdul Kader Bhanpurwala and Syed Saifuddin.
Parmar told the court that he had seen the accused talk to a passenger, and that everyone in the coach was scared. He said that Chaudhary had a rifle in his hand and was in “ready position”.
“The passenger was begging for mercy. He told Chetan, ‘main ek aam mulazim hu, main Allah ko bhi maanta hun aur main bhagwaan ko bhi maanta hu, Bhagwan aur Allah ek hai (I am a regular person. I believe in Allah, and I also believe in Bhagwan. All Gods are equal)’,” Parmar told the court and said that Chaudhary shot him twice in the chest.
Parmar said that he tried to stop Chaudhary but there were passengers between them and he feared that firing at Chaudhary to stop him would have injured the passengers. Parmar also said that Chaudhary was angry and he feared that he may shoot him also.
Parmar then entered another coach through the pantry car and called the other constable on duty, Amey Acharya (who was also dismissed along with Parmar), and told him to inform the control room that Chaudhary had killed a passenger.
As one of the passengers pulled the chain, the train halted. Parmar told court that he had seen bodies on the train, lying in pools of blood. A passenger told him that Chaudhary had escaped, alighting from the train on the tracks. This was in between Mira Road and Dahisar railway station, Parmar said.
Parmar and another guard told the motorman to take the train to Borivali railway station, where many other policemen gathered, and he also saw the body of his senior Meena in B5 coach. The bodies of all four victims were sent for postmortem. Parmar was shown photographs of the victims and he identified the person who was held at gunpoint in the pantry.
Parmar’s deposition will continue Tuesday when he is likely to be shown articles from the spot for identification.
Chaudhary claimed that his mental condition was not proper. Following a report from the jail, the court had directed that he be admitted to a mental hospital, with the trial stalled till then.
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