21 January,2025 03:35 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Chetansinh Chaudhary. File Pic/PTI
A court on Tuesday ordered former RPF constable Chetansinh Chaudhary, accused in the Mumbai-Jaipur train firing case, to be referred to the Thane mental hospital for medical examination after Akola prison authorities informed it that he was suffering from a mental disorder, reported the PTI.
The court said that the accused would be lodged in Thane jail during his medical examination.
Chetansinh Chaudhary is accused of shooting dead his senior colleague Assistant Sub-Inspector Tika Ram Meena and three passengers on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express near Palghar railway station on July 31, 2023.
He is currently lodged in Akola jail, about 550 km from Mumbai.
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The Akola prison authorities had informed the court that Chetansinh Chaudhary was suffering from a mental disorder and needed to be shifted to a hospital in Nagpur in Maharashtra for further treatment, as per the PTI.
The prosecution had submitted that it had no objection to Chaudhary's treatment and that he could be shifted to the Regional Mental Hospital in Thane for the convenience of the trial, as per the PTI.
Accepting the submission of authorities, Additional Sessions Judge N L More on Tuesday noted that the trial had already begun.
The jail authority finds it difficult to produce the accused for hearing from the Akola prison. Due to internet connectivity issues, the accused is not even produced through video conferencing, the judge said.
"Therefore, for the convenience of the jail authority and the accused, it is desirable that the accused be referred to a mental hospital in Thane for medical examination," the judge said, PTI reported.
Advocate Jaywant Patil, appearing for the accused, submitted that Chetansinh Chaudhary be kept in Thane jail until further order of the court, the news agency reported on Tuesday.
The court directed jail authorities to make necessary arrangements for transporting the accused from Akola to Thane with full security measures.
Chetansinh Chaudhary, 34, was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and others, the Railways Act and the Maharashtra Prevention Of Defacement of Property Act for July 31, 2023, killings on board the moving Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express.
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).
(with PTI inputs)
