I saw RPF jawan shoot the Mullabhai: Witness
MUMBAI, Sept. 23 -- Passengers who came across dismissed RPF jawan Chetan Singh Chaudhary on the night of July 31, 2023, on the Jaipur-Mumbai Superfast Express have been testifying at his trial at the Dindoshi Sessions Court, through last month.
The 35-year-old is charged with shooting dead his senior, ASI Tikaram Meena, after an argument with the latter, as well as three passengers who were identifiably Muslim, on the train.
On Monday, a 29-year-old, whose name cannot be disclosed for her own safety, was the third passenger to narrate a scene through the journey she witnessed, which left her traumatised for days.
"The RPF jawan went up to a Mullabhai and told him to stand up. I saw them talking but couldn't hear what was being said. I then saw him shoot the Mullabhai. I heard two shots being fired," she said in her examination-in-chief by public prosecutor (PP) Sudhir Sapkale.
She used the word 'Mullabhai', she said, to denote the bearded Muslim man who was shot. She subsequently learned that his name was Ali Asghar.
Prior to this, said the witness, the RPF jawan came to her coach -- S6 -- walking with great speed, at around 5:30 am. When she asked him if anything was untoward, he glared at her without replying, she said. She added that when her friend, who was travelling with her, wanted to use the washroom, she found Singh standing near its door. When asked to move aside, he looked at her so angrily that the witness asked her friend to return to her seat, and use the washroom later.
The jawan then took two or three rounds of the coach, said the witness, before walking up to Asghar. Shortly after, when the train stopped between Mira Road and Dahisar stations as someone had pulled the chain, the witness saw the victim lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
The witness identified Singh who was produced in court from the Thane Central Jail through videoconferencing. She told defence lawyer Jaywant Patil that she didn't approach the police after alighting at Borivali station, because she was shaken up. It is for the same reason, she told Patil, that she did not respond to the calls she received from the police, till August 4, when she went to Borivali Police Station to record her statement.
Patil told the court that she could identify Singh because she had seen him on TV, and the police had told her he would be produced by video conferencing.
Rejecting both suggestions, the witness replied: "I've seen it all myself. I saw him clearly in front of me."...
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