Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh, who was arrested for killing four men onboard a train, was slapped with Section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds, after a forensic examination of various video clips, purportedly showing him making “hate comments”, confirmed that it was him who spoke in the train, reported The Indian Express.
Singh, who was on escort duty on August 31 on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express, shot dead four men, including his senior officer assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena, and three Muslim passengers — Abdul Kadar Mohamed Hussain Bhanpurawala, Syed Saifuddin and Asgar Abbas Sheikh.
Singh gave a vitriolic speech against the community and insisted that other passengers recorded his speech.
Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel said that they had done a forensic examination to match Singh’s voice sample and photos with that of the man seen in the videos.
On Monday, GRP investigators informed the magistrate court that they managed to trace passengers who had recorded those videos, in which the police personnel could be seen making “objectionable” and “hateful” comments, reported The Hindustan Times.
This was done based on at least 15 videos shot by passengers, following which they added the charge of 153 A of the IPC, they said.
Seeking an extension of Singh’s custody remand, the GRP informed the court that three more Sections – 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC have also been slapped against the RPF constable, after a witness Jaffar Khan, told them that Singh had taken away his caretaker, Sayed Saifuddin Moinuddin, at gunpoint from coach B2 to the Pantry car where he had allegedly shot him dead from point black range.
The court extended Singh’s remand till August 11.