Maharashtra
\nAn Indian railway security guard \u201clost his temper\u201d while riding a moving train through the country\u2019s western Maharashtra state, killing four individuals, three of whom were Indian Muslims, according to local media
\nChetan Singh, a 33-year-old policeman with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), was identified by police as the culprit following the shooting on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express train early on Monday.
\nSingh can be seen praising Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in videos that have been widely shared on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, while holding his gun in one hand and standing next to a body covered in blood.
\n\u201cIf you want to live and vote in Hindustan [India], I am telling you, it\u2019s only Modi and Yogi,\u201d he was heard saying in one of the videos verified by Al Jazeera.
\nRPF Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Tika Ram Meena, a senior colleague of Singh, was one of the victims.
\nAbdul Kaderbhai Bhanpurwala, Sadar Mohammed Hussain, and Asgar Abbas Ali, the other three victims aboard the moving train, were all Muslims.
\nThe Hindustan Times reports: \u201cAll three passengers were bearded. As Asghar\u2019s body toppled onto the narrow corridor, Singh rested the hilt of his assault weapon on the side seat and began a short hate-filled rant against Muslims that he asked the bystanders to record for the media\u2019s consumption.\u201d
\nAround 5am (23:30 GMT on Sunday), the passengers were killed close to the town of Palghar in the southwest Indian state of Maharashtra, which is two hours from Mumbai.
\nSingh is accused of killing Meena, 57, and a passenger with 12 bullets from his service rifle, according to local media sources, and killing the two other victims later in two different train cars.
\n\u201cWe received information at 6am that an RPF constable who was on escort duty opened fired, and four people were shot, one of whom was an ASI,\u201d Divisional Railway Manager Niraj Verma told reporters in Mumbai.
\nThe Indian Express reported that Singh opened fire on Meena after an argument, but a railway official denied the report, stating Singh \u201cwasn\u2019t feeling well and hence lost his calm\u201d.
\n\u201cHe had a short fuse. He was quite hot-headed. There was no altercation. He just lost his temper and shot his senior, then fired at whoever he saw,\u201d RPF (Western Railway) Inspector General Praveen Sinha was quoted as saying by ANI.
\nSingh, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, was apprehended by local police after getting off the train at Borivali station in Mumbai after the shooting. The motive remains unclear as an investigation continues, according to Government Railway Police Commissioner Ravindra Shisve.
\nAdditionally, a senior leader from the opposition Indian National Congress party, Jairam Ramesh, termed the shooting a \u201ccold-blooded murder\u201d while denouncing the incident.
\n\u201cThe genie of hate is now out of the bottle and it will take a lot of collective effort to put it back in,\u201d Ramesh said in a tweet.
\nHe laid the blame for \u201chate and violence\u201d on Modi\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said its top leaders were \u201ccomplicit in damaging the social fabric of India\u201d.
\nAsadudin Owaisi, a Muslim member of parliament and leader of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) party which advocates for the rights of Muslims and other marginalised groups, called it a \u201cterror attack that specifically targeted Muslims\u201d.
\nIn the meantime, a Maharashtra-based BJP lawmaker demanded a comprehensive probe while Manisha Chaudhary said that an investigation \u201cmust be carried out to determine the exact reason behind the incident,\u201d as quoted in the Indian Express.
\nThe incident comes after frequent hate crimes that have been occurring across India against local Muslims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maharashtra An Indian railway security guard \u201clost his temper\u201d while riding a moving train through the country\u2019s western Maharashtra state, killing four individuals, three of whom were Indian Muslims, according to local media Chetan Singh, a 33-year-old policeman with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), was identified by police as the culprit following the shooting on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-346725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n