Talks are going on about Chetan Singh being under mental stress. Meanwhile, the prescription of the doctor shows that on February 12, he had consulted a patient named ‘Chetan’ at the big hospital in Mathura. The doctor asked her to undergo MRI and other tests, the follow up of which took place on 13 February. It is clearly written in the prescription that earlier this patient had consulted a psychiatrist in Indore as well. In the Jaipur-Mumbai Express, Chetan shot dead his senior colleague ASI Tikaram Meena and three other passengers in a moving train with his rifle. At that time during interrogation it was revealed that Chetan was mentally ill. He is currently in police remand and his interrogation is on.
The number of security personnel for each Zonal Railway is fixed by the Railways in proportion to the number of lakhs of people traveling in the trains. There are lakhs of passengers in local trains in Mumbai only. Apart from this, security has to be provided in long distance trains also. Less people are doing duty than the number of people needed for this. At present, 1,860 RPF personnel are on duty in Mumbai division of Central Railway and 1,368 in Western Railway. There is about 24 percent vacancy in both the railways together.
Proposals for filling vacancies are continuously sent by the Division or Zonal Railways, but usually the files are not signed. Chetan Singh, who carried out the firing incident in the train, had done the duty of the security squad a day earlier. He was to repeat this duty for a week. Taking weapons before going to the security squad, going on duty, patrolling the trains all night and returning in the morning. After this, after depositing the weapons, go to sleep during the day. Repeat duty at night.
In this way, the body clock of the people working in the squad keeps changing, which has to be mentally strong to maintain it. After the firing incident, many jawans have indicated increase in workload due to vacancy. According to the statement given by Ameya in Chetan Singh’s case, he was continuously talking about being dropped at Valsad after he was not feeling well.
On Tuesday, ADG RPF Sanjay Sankrityayan attended a security seminar for RPF personnel at Mumbai Central. This seminar was organized after Chetan carried out the firing incident. The aim was to counsel the jawans and listen to their grievances. About 150 personnel of Central Railway and Western Railway participated in the seminar. Some jawans told that only selected people are sent to such seminars, those who complain are always kept away.
