Witness tells court RPF cop said 'Yeh 2008 ka badla hai'
Mumbai, Nov. 11 -- "Yeh 2008 ka badla hai." These were the words that a passenger on the Jaipur-Mumbai Superfast Express heard a Railway Police Force (RPF) cop saying in the early hours of July 31, 2023.
The policeman was in uniform and holding a rifle; he was standing near the body of a bearded passenger lying on the compartment floor, the passenger told the Dindoshi sessions court on Monday.
The court is trying former RPF constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary for shooting dead his senior officer and three identifiably Muslim passengers on the train on July 31, 2023. The 32-year-old GST Customs employee, whose identity is being withheld due to safety concerns, was the 13th prosecution witness to depose in the case.
The witness told public prosecutor Sudhir Sapkale that he was woken up around 5.30am on July 31, 2023 by a loud noise. From his upper berth, he saw a bearded man lying on the floor of his coach S6, in a pool of blood. Next to him stood a uniformed RPF policeman holding a rifle.
Scared, the witness picked up his luggage and ran in the opposite direction. That's when he heard the RPF policeman say: "Yeh 2008 ka badla hai."
2008 was the year the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai took place. On November 26, 2008, 166 persons were shot dead by Ajmal Kasab and nine other Pakistani gunmen.
The witness told the Dindoshi court that by the time he heard the RPF policeman utter those words, all passengers had left the compartment. He too went and sat in the last bay of coach S6, he said, when he saw the RPF policeman go towards coach S5 and alight from the train onto the tracks.
When the train halted at Borivali station, the witness alighted and went home, he said.
Chaudhary was not produced in court on Monday via video conferencing from Thane Central Jail, as he always is....
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