Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetansinh Chaudhary.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Dismissed RPF constable Chetansinh Chaudhary, accused of shooting dead his senior colleague and three passengers on a moving express train in July 2023, on Monday requested bail, claiming he was suffering from "white matter disease" and "delusional disorder".
Chaudhary, currently lodged in Thane Jail, moved the bail application through his advocates Amit Mishra and Pankaj Ghildiyal in the sessions court.
The plea claimed that the accused was suffering from "white matter disease" and didn't have any memory regarding the crime.
The "white matter disease" refers to damage or degeneration of the brain's white matter.
"The accused is suffering from extreme mental strokes, and he is a partial mental patient/mentally challenged, who sometimes becomes whimsical and goes into the loop of illusions, and the accused is suffering from delusional disorder," his plea said.
"Whatever the crime occurred, the accused does not have any knowledge of the same", it stated.
Chaudhary also cited other grounds for considering his bail plea, stating that his custodial interrogation was not required since the charge sheet was already filed in the case.
In December 2023, the court had rejected Chaudhary's plea filed on similar grounds. The latest application comes at a time when the court is recording testimony of witnesses.
Chaudhary allegedly went on a shooting spree in the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra on July 31, 2023. He allegedly shot dead his senior colleague, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tika Ram Meena, and three passengers.
He was nabbed with his weapon later while trying to flee after passengers pulled the chain of the train, which stopped near Mira Road station (on the Mumbai suburban network).