Jaipur-Mumbai train firing: Dismissed RPF constable’s wife urges govt to drop hate crime charges against husband

Her face covered with a scarf, Priyanka Chaudhary says she and her family fear for their lives

Her face covered with a scarf, Priyanka also said she and her family feared for their lives. According to her, Chaudhary, currently lodged in Akola jail, has been taking medicine for mental illness for the past two years. (Express Photo)

Priyanka Chaudhary – the wife of dismissed RPF constable Chetansinh Chaudhary who gunned down an RPF assistant sub-inspector and three Muslim passengers on a train – while speaking to media persons on Saturday, requested the government to drop the charges of hate crime against her husband and claimed he was not communal. She also claimed her husband was mentally ill.

Chaudhary, 33, who gunned down the four people on July 31 on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express train, is currently lodged in Akola jail. The RPF assistant sub-inspector he gunned down was his superior.

While talking about her husband’s posting in Ujjain, Priyanka Chaudhary said there were lots of Muslims there but nothing had happened. When asked about a February 2017 incident where Chetansinh unnecessarily harrassed and assaulted a Muslim person and also faced departmental action, she said there was no truth to the incident. She added that she and her family feared for their lives.

Also read | Jaipur-Mumbai Train Killings: RPF constable forced woman in burqa to say ‘Jai Mata Di’ at gunpoint, finds probe

She said her husband was mentally ill and had been taking medicine for this since the last two years.

Advocates Pankaj Ghildiyal and Amit Mishra are representing Chaudhary in the case.

Mishra too said his client was not mentally well and that an application requesting dropping hate crime charges against Chetansinh will be submitted in court.

He said that during a recent video call with Chaudhary, he instructed him to move an application in the court seeking directions to unfreeze his savings bank account. The account had been frozen following Chetansinh Chaudhary’s arrest.

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“We are still surprised as to why the GRP has frozen his bank account in the first place when there is no question of proceeds of the crime comes in this case. We will soon move an application seeking defrezeeing of his bank account,” Mishra added.

On July 31 early morning, Chaudhary, 33, allegedly gunned down his senior, assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena and three passengers — Abdul Kadar Mohamed Hussain Bhanpurawala, Syed Saifuddin and Asgar Abbas Sheikh, inside the train that was en route Mumbai. Police investigations showed he killed three Muslim passengers out of hate.

He also forced a burqa-clad passenger to say “jai mata di” at gunpoint and also told another Muslim person that his acts were a revenge of 2008 (referring to the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks). After killing four persons, he allegedly delivered a communal hate speech next to one of the deceased Muslims.

The Indian Express had first reported in August how Chaudhary targetted a Muslim person and harrassed him.

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