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4 killed on Jaipur-Mumbai train: Witness says ex-RPF cop shot bearded man twice

Currently, passengers on the Jaipur-Mumbai train have been deposing as witnesses in the trial.

Mumbai trainPassengers on the Jaipur-Mumbai train have been deposing as witnesses in the trial. (Source: File)

In the ongoing murder trial against dismissed RPF constable Chetansinh Chaudhary over the murder of four persons on the Jaipur-Mumbai train in 2023, a woman, who was travelling in the train on the day of the incident, told a court that she had seen him shoot a bearded man twice.

The man was later identified to be Asgar Ali Abbas, who along with three others — Chaudhary’s senior Assistant Sub Inspector Tikaram Meena, Abdul Kader Bhanpurwala and Syed Saifuddin — were shot dead on the Jaipur-Mumbai train on July 31, 2023.

Chaudhary is facing trial for the four murders in the Dindoshi sessions court.

On Monday, the woman passenger appeared before the court as a prosecution witness.

The 29-year-old woman told the court that she was travelling with a friend from Jaipur in the train. Around 5.30 am, the woman said, she saw a person running from the pantry car of the train with an RPF staffer, following him. The woman passenger told the court that she asked the RPF personnel, “Sir, kuch hua hai kya? (Has anything happened?).”

She said that he stared angrily at her, after which she returned to her seat. “My friend wanted to use the washroom but the RPF staffer was standing near it. When her friend asked him to make some space to pass through, he stared angrily at her too,” the witness said. The witness told the court that the RPF staffer then walked around the coach a few times.

The woman told the court that she then saw the RPF staffer argue with a bearded person, referring him to as “Mullaji”, and then shoot him twice. The witness said that after a while, the train stopped when somebody pulled the chain between Mira Road and Dahisar stations.

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The woman told the court that she saw the man who was shot at earlier lying in a pool of blood. She and her friend alighted with others at Borivali station after the train started again.

After her deposition, she identified the person she had seen shoot the co-passenger to be Chaudhary, who was present through a video-conference link from jail.

During the cross-examination by Chaudhary’s lawyer, the witness was asked if she remembered the berth number of the bearded person, or his name, to which responded in negative.

She was also questioned on her eyesight and the dim lighting in the coach at that time. The witness told the court that she was wearing spectacles at the time of the incident. The woman passenger also told court that she had not gone to the police station on her own after alighting from the train but had received a call from the police a few days after, when her statement was recorded.

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Currently, passengers on the Jaipur-Mumbai train have been deposing as witnesses in the trial.

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