Mumbai train firing: RPF constable was 'feeling unwell' and 'in no mood to listen', recalls colleague

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A Railway Protection Force constable gunned down his senior colleague and three other train passengers on Monday before being nabbed by GRP and RPF. The incident took place on board the moving Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra. And according to his colleague, the accused - Chetan Singh - had complained that he was feeling unwell and appeared to be ‘in no mood to listen’ to his colleagues after being told to complete his shift.

The officials had boarded the Mumbai-bound train from Surat at around 2.53 am. Singh and his slain senior - ASI Tikaram Meena - had been on duty in the airconditioned compartments. An NDTV report quoting RPF constable Ghanshyam Acharya explains that Singh had been feeling unwell and wished to exit the train at the next station.

He was denied the request with ASI Meena noting that he had at least two hours of duty left. "Officials at the control room too said Chetan Singh must complete his duty and then get treated in Mumbai. ASI Meena tried to explain this but he was not listening.

ASI Meena then told me to take Chetan Singh's rifle and let him rest," the publication quoted the Railway cop as telling officials. Matters however awry soon after. Urged to lie down in an empty seat in the B4 compartment, Singh had slept for a mere 10 minutes before he began asking for his rifle.

“I refused and asked him to rest. He was enraged and he tried to choke me. I was overpowered and he snatched the rifle in my hand and left.

I realised he had taken my rifle by mistake," Acharya added. While the two had swapped weapons soon after the cop said Singh was refusing to listen to him and the ASI. In his statement Acharya described the accused as arguing, his ‘face flushed with