Muslim passengers among four killed as police officer opens fire inside train in Mumbai

Suspect opens fire on senior officer then shoots dead three Muslim passengers on moving train

Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials guard in a bunker on Sealdha Railway Station in Kolkata, India (EPA)

Four people were shot dead onboard a moving passenger train in India after a member of the railway police opened fire on them in an apparent hate crime.

The suspect, identified as Chetan Singh, shot dead a senior Railway Protection Force (RPF) officer and three Muslim passengers at around 5.30am local time on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express train.

The train was near Palghar station, located 96km north of Mumbai, when Mr Singh allegedly shot Tikaram Meena, an assistant sub-inspector with the RPF.

He then proceeded to open fire on the three passengers, all of them confirmed to be Muslims.

Mr Singh allegedly first shot dead Mr Meena in coach B-5 of the express then fired shots at one of the passengers, identified as Abdul Kaderbhai Bhanpurwala, in the same coach.

Mr Singh reportedly walked through four coaches until he reached the pantry car, where he gunned down a passenger identified as Sadar Mohammed Hussain.

The suspect crossed two other coaches till he came across the third victim – Asgar Abbas Shaikh in coach S-6 and killed him. Mr Singh allegedly fired 12 rounds from his service rifle to kill all four people.

In a purported video shared on social media, the suspect can be seen standing next to a dead body with his rifle in one hand.

“If you want to live and vote in Hindustan [India], I am telling you, it’s only Modi and Yogi, these two people, and your Thackeray,” he said in a brief rant, referring to prime minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Shortly after the carnage, one of the passengers pulled the alarm chain and Mr Singh jumped off the train at the next station and tried to escape.

He was later arrested from the outskirts of Mumbai.

“An unfortunate incident has been reported today in Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express,” India’s Western Railways said in a statement. “According to a preliminary investigation, he opened fire using his official weapon. The accused has been arrested,” it added.

Railway authorities said the motive of the firing was not known yet.

The suspect and the slain sub-inspector were part of a four-member group, that boarded the train from Surat station in Gujarat for escort duty.

Praveen Sinha, the inspector general of RPF (Western Railway) told reporters that the suspect was “quite hot-headed”.

“He had a short fuse, he was quite hot-headed. There was no altercation. He just lost his temper and shot his senior, then fired at whoever he saw,” Mr Sinha said.

The suspect was taken to Borivali railway police station where a case of murder has been filed against him.

Meanwhile, grieving family members of Mr Shaikh refused to accept his body and staged a protest outside a civic hospital in Mumbai.

Mohammad Amanullah Shaikh said he would not accept the body until the railways announced compensation and made arrangements for carrying his body to Jaipur city in Rajasthan.

“He (Asgar) has five children below the age of 12, but neither the railways have announced any compensation for them nor assured a job for a family member. They have also not made any arrangements for taking his body to Jaipur,” he said, according to The Telegraph.

India’s opposition party leaders condemned the violence, calling it a “cold-blooded murder” which was “the result of a hyper-charged and highly polarised news media and social media atmosphere”.

“The genie of hate is now out of the bottle and it will take a lot of collective effort to put it back in,” Jairam Ramesh, a member of the Indian National Congress, tweeted.