Train firing case involving RPF cop: Witness tells court accused said 'yeh 2008 ka badla hai'

Mumbai, Nov 10 (PTI) A witness in the July 2023 train firing incident told a court here on Monday that he saw a bearded man lying in a pool of blood and an RPF personnel carrying a rifle standing nearby saying "this is revenge for 2008".

Former Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary is accused of shooting dead his senior colleague, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tika Ram Meena, and three passengers on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra on July 31, 2023. He was held soon after from the tracks while trying to flee.

The witness, a GST executive who was travelling in S-6 coach of the train, said he saw a bearded man lying in a pool of blood and an RPF person standing there with his rifle.

The witness, who testified before Additional Sessions Judge Y B Pathan (Dindoshi Court), said he was returning to Mumbai from a vacation.

The witness said he got scared after witnessing the horrific scene and started walking towards the other side of the compartment, during which time he heard the RPF personnel saying "yeh 2008 ka badla hai" (It is revenge for 2008).

This statement of the accused was purportedly in reference to the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that year. Ten Pakistani terrorists gunned down 166 persons in multiple coordinated attacks over a period of 60 hours that began on November 26.

While being examined by additional public prosecutor Sudhir Sapkale, the witness said he saw the RPF constable moving towards the S-5 coach and alighting from it onto the tracks.

The 32-year-old denied defence lawyer Jaywant Patil's suggestion that his deposition was false and that he had not seen anything.

Chaudhary, as per the prosecution, made several communally charged statements while killing passengers on the moving train.

He has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and others, as well as provisions of Railways Act and Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. PTI AVI BNM