RPF jawan accused in Jaipur Exp shootout seeks bail again

The application filed at the Dinsodhi sessions court says that Chaudhary has spent 28 months in jail. He “has been declared mentally unstable”, requires “love, need and care” from his family members, and has two children “eagerly waiting for their father’s release”, the application states

Mumbai: A second bail application was filed on Monday on behalf of Chetan Singh Chaudhary, a former Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable who is standing trial for the murder of his senior officer and three identifiably Muslim passengers on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Superfast Express in the early hours of July 31, 2023.

Undated photo of former RPF constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary (PTI)

The application filed at the Dinsodhi sessions court says that Chaudhary has spent 28 months in jail. He “has been declared mentally unstable”, requires “love, need and care” from his family members, and has two children “eagerly waiting for their father’s release”, the application states.

Filed by advocates Amit Mishra and Pankaj S Ghildiyal, part of the defence team headed by advocate Jaywant Patil, the application mentions that Chaudhary suffered a “panic mental attack” in jail, and underwent treatment at the Thane Mental Hospital for four months.

Chaudhary was admitted to the Thane Mental Hospital in February 2025, on the recommendation of the Akola Government Hospital, after the staff at Akola Central Jail found him behaving oddly. He was discharged from the hospital on June 19, with the discharge report saying he was “quiet, cooperative, communicative, oriented to time, place, person…has fair comprehension and follows his routine well”; (his) “compliance is better, behavior is controlled and appetite is good.”

The bail application further claims that Chaudhary has no knowledge of the crime he is accused of, as he is suffering from “extreme mental strokes” as well as “white matter disease”.

“No knowledge of the crime”, “extreme mental strokes” and “white matter disease” were all cited in Chaudhary’s first bail application filed in November 2023, three months after his arrest.

The court had rejected the plea saying that the record, the statements of the eye witnesses, the injuries and the words uttered by Chaudhary at the time of commission of the crime showed that he “committed the murder of four persons when he was on duty being the public servant by uttering communal words towards the deceased…The accused has targeted and uttered such words that show (he) was in well-settled position and mind to commit the murder of the persons of the particular community.’’

Meanwhile, on Monday, a crucial witness – the first person to encounter Chaudhary after he alighted on to the tracks after the shootout on the train – had to go back a second time without testifying because the public prosecutor, Sudhir Sapkale, was busy in another court. The same thing had happened last week. After waiting till 4pm for the public prosecutor to appear in court, where the witness and the defence advocate were present since 3pm, the judge ordered that the matter be adjourned to December 8.