July 2023 train firing: Trial begins as Mumbai court records testimony of 1st witness
Mumbai (PTI): Fifteen months after four persons were gunned down on a Mumbai-bound train allegedly by a RPF constable, the case trial has commenced with a city court recording the testimony of the first witness, who identified the weapon used in the crime.
RPF constable Chetansinh Chaudhary, the lone accused in the case who was later dismissed from service, is accused of fatally shooting his superior officer Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tika Ram Meena and three passengers on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express when the train was on the city's outskirts on July 31, 2023.
The first witness, also a dismissed Railway Protection Force (RPF) staffer, was with Chaudhary at the time of the shooting. He is also the complainant in the case.
On the opening day of the trial on Monday, the evidence presented by the complainant was recorded before Additional Sessions Judge M L More.
During the examination-in-chief, the witness identified the weapon used in the crime (examination-in-chief refers to process of questioning a witness by the party who has called them to testify).
As per Chaudhary's lawyer Jaywant Patil, the testimony of the witness was recorded in the absence of the accused as he couldn't be connected through video conferencing from a jail due to technical reasons.
Chaudhary is lodged in a jail in eastern Maharashtra's Akola district, about 550 km from Mumbai.
The witness will be cross-examined by defence lawyers on November 27, the next day of hearing.
Chaudhary has been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and others, as well as relevant provisions of the Railways Act and the Maharashtra Prevention Of Defacement of Property Act.
The shooting took place at around 5 am on July 31, 2023, on board the moving Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express when the train was near Palghar railway station.
Chaudhary (34) was nabbed along with his weapon while trying to flee after passengers pulled the chain of the train which stopped near Mira Road station (on the Mumbai suburban network).
According to police, Chaudhary shot dead ASI Meena and another passenger in B5 coach with his automatic weapon.
He then fired at another passenger in the train's pantry car and one more person in S6 coach located next to the buffet car, killing both of them.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
