Jaipur-Mumbai train firing: Killer constable’s colleagues were armed but they hid in the toilet

By Shirish Vaktania Samiullah Khan and Apoorva AgasheWhen RPF constable Chetan Kumar Singh opened fire and killed his senior ASI Tikaram Meena in the running train on Monday morning their two fellow constables were also nearby according to sources However the two terrorstricken constables who had already been threatened by Singh hid in the toilet they said Now they will face an inquiry for failing to prevent the four deathsRailway police sources confirmed to midday that a fight broke out between Chetan Singh and his senior ASI Tikaram Meena before the shooting spree During the fight Singh shot Meena who fired a shot from his pistol in retaliation they added citing the findings of the initial investigationRPF constable Chetan Singh the accused and ASI Tikaram Meena one of the 4 deadAccording to the sources two other Railway Protection Force RPF personnelmdashConstable Abhay Acharya and Head Constable Narendra Parmarmdashwere deployed with Singh and Meena on the route Both Acharya and Parmar are now facing departmental inquiry for failing to prevent the bloodbathASI Meena was carrying a pistol with 10 bullets Constable Acharya was carrying an ARM rifle with 20 rounds of bullets Constable Parmar had a pistol with 10 rounds of bullets and Singh had an ARM rifle with 20 rounds of bulletsWhen the fight startsThe four RPF personnel were deployed on Saurashtra Mail which left Mumbai Central station at 905 pm on July 30 They reached Surat at 110 am on July 31 On their return journey they were deployed on the JaipurMumbai Central Superfast Express which departed at 253 amRailway police officers at Borivli GRP station on Monday PicSatej ShindeWhile Meena and Singh were to be in AC compartments the other two constables were stationed in the sleeper coaches They all boarded the B2 coach together and decided to sit for a chat before heading their wayAs soon as the train departed Surat Singh asked the head constable if he could go home as he was feeling unwell However Acharya found nothing wrong with him sources said Singh then asked the ticket checker who said he could get down at Valsad after taking his superiorrsquos permission they addedMeena told Singh that they would reach Mumbai soon anyway and asked him to get some sleep He gave him some medicine as well sources saidMeanwhile Meena informed the control room and Assistant Security Commissioner ASC Sujit Kumar Pandey who told Singh not to go off duty Constable Acharya offered him a cold drink but Singh refused it and started arguing that he wanted to go home the sources saidAttacks constable AcharyaSingh then rested for 1015 minutes but woke up suddenly and started strangling Acharya and demanded that he hand over his gun Acharya gave his gun to Singh and informed ASC Pandey who asked him to inform Meena the sources addedWhen Meena intervened Singh gave Acharyarsquos gun back to him Around 5 am Acharya noticed that Singh had removed the cover of his gun Fearing that he would fire it he informed Meena and left the coach the sources saidAround 525 am when the train crossed Vaitarna railway station the shooting started The shooting continued until the train reached Mira Road station and Singh had shot dead Meena and three passengers the sources addedTook passenger hostageSingh had also taken a passenger hostage from B2 and moved through B2 B3 B4 B5 and B6 coaches before killing him at the pantry While he was moving through the coaches Acharya and Parmar tried to stop Singh but he trained his gun at them and threatened to kill them if they followed himAfraid the two constables hid in the toilet One of the ticket checkers also hid and removed his uniform so that Singh would not identify him said the sourcesThe sources said that constables Acharya and Parmar were armed and should have fired at Singh to stop the bloodbath but they did not perform their dutyRight ahead of Mira Road station someone pulled the emergency chain and Singh escaped He then randomly fired at the train while standing on the track the sources told middayAt Mira Road station when constables caught Singh he removed his belt and started thrashing them But they still manage to apprehend him the sources addedMore than 20 people have given statements so far and the police have managed to gather sufficient evidence the sources saidThe RPF has also formed a committee to investigate the allegations of inaction by Acharya and Parmar20No of people who have given their statement