Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetansinh Chaudhary, 33, who allegedly shot dead his superior and three Muslim passengers on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express on July 31, was dismissed from service on Wednesday for committing a “heinous crime”, as per the order of SKS Rathor, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF. Chaudhary is currently in judicial custody. The senior railway officials inquiring into the matter relied heavily on the court’s observation while dismissing Chaudhary. The court observed that assistant sub-inspector Tika Ram Meena might have been killed by Chetan in a fit of rage, but it is well established that the remaining three innocent passengers were killed one by one, very selectively, out of hatred. Hence, he deserves no opportunity for an inquiry, the senior railway officer observed. “The act committed by Chetansinh maligns the image of the RPF and his crime comes under the category of heinous crime; hence, it is not feasible to organise a D&AR (internal inquiry) probe as prescribed in the rules. Departmental inquiry takes time, and it will fail to fulfil the very intention of punishing the guilty,” the dismissal order observed. Delaying action on the culprit will cause damage to the force, and it will also end discipline in the force. And if we ignore it, this will spread like an infectious disease, observed the senior officer. Delaying a final decision in such a matter can lead to people losing their faith in the RPF, and it will also encourage indiscipline in the force. Hence, constable Chetansinh has been dismissed from service as per the rules under the RPF Act, 1987, the order stated. Chetansinh hid the rifle During the inquiry, RPF constable Jai Prakash Yadav, posted at Bhayander, in his statement said that he saw Chetansinh after he got down from the train and was walking on the track. He was approaching him with a rifle. When Yadav asked him, “with a rifle, where are you heading alone”, Chetansinh told him to move out of his way, otherwise, he would shoot him. He also asked Yadav not to follow him up. Yadav further said that when a local train was passing by, Chetan tried to hide. “After receiving the news, the GRP also arrived, and later we all surrounded him (Chetansinh) on Platform No. 2 of Mira Road station. At that time, he did not have the rifle with him; maybe he hid it somewhere. Later, the GRP took Chetansinh into custody,” he stated. The rifle (ARM) was recovered from railway tracks on a down slow line (towards the west direction) confirmed by Bhayander Railway station sub-inspector Pravin Tamag. His statement was corroborated by the statement of the head constable of Mira Road Railway station Jai Prakash Yadav. Tamag said that when they found the rifle on track, they did not see Constable Chetan and therefore formed two teams for searching him. When they reached Mira Road station, at Platform no. 2 they found head constable Yadav and GRP Head Constable Dilip Datre, who held an RPF man wearing uniform (Chetan).
