Rajesh Tomar also fired three rounds inside a train and seriously injured a passenger after being refused money and a place to sit
Rajesh Tomar also fired three rounds inside a train and seriously injured a passenger after being refused money and a place to sit
This is the 19-year-old boy who fired a round with a country-made revolver at the railway police at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in the early hours of February 7.
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ARRESTED: Raju Tomar was caught carrying a country-made revolver at CST. He is lodged at the CST railway lockup. PIC/railway police. |
Tomar not only admitted to the incident, but in a shocking revelation, also confessed to firing three rounds at passengers on the Vijaywada- Manmad Express for Shirdi on February 4. A 60-year-old man was injured in the mishap.
"I was scared. The passengers were not allowing my friend and me to sit and they started abusing us, hence I opened three rounds. I did not intend to hurt anybody, but I know a bullet hit a passenger," said Tomar, who hails from Madhya Pradesh. He is presently lodged at the CST railway lockup.
According to the police, Tomar and his friend Ganesh Puri (23) barged into the reserved compartment (coach no S-6) between Wadgaon and Parli railway station (in the Beed district of Maharashtra) on February 4 at 1.20 am and started demanding money from the passengers.
Shivkumar (60) and his son M Fanni Kumar (23), natives of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, refused to give in to their demands. An altercation took place between them and Tomar, in a fit of rage, fired three rounds to scare them. However, a bullet hit Shivkumar on the neck, injuring him badly. Shivkumar was rushed to the Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Hospital in Nanded, where his condition is said to be critical.
While Tomar managed to escape when the train slowed down at Parli railway station, Puri was caught by the passengers and handed to the police.
The Std X passout said he bought a country-made revolver and six cartridges for Rs 3,000 from a villager, Raju Singh (name changed), in Madhya Pradesh's Bind district two months ago and used it only to scare people. However, when probed further, Tomar admitted that the real purpose of procuring the weapon was to take revenge on a hawker named Pawan from Kalyan. "I wanted to teach him a lesson and hence got the weapon," he informed the police.
Tomar said he came to Mumbai five years back and started selling tea in long-distance trains. Preliminary inquires reveal that Pawan had assaulted Tomar in public and also lodged a complaint for illegal hawking against him with the Kalyan railway police. Tomar says his business was affected because of Pawan and that's the reason he resorted to robbery. All this created an enmity between the two and Tomar decided to settle the case by killing Pawan.
Senior Inspector Dilip Mane of CST railway police station said, "We have registered a case of attempt to murder against Tomar. All those who are involved in the case will be seriously dealt with." A police team from CST left for Madhya Pradesh on Monday night to nab Raju. The police recovered two live cartridges and the weapon from Tomar.
The incidentRajesh Tomar (19) fired at police personnel with a country-made revolver at CST on February 7, evoking memories of the 26/11 terrorist attacks. No one was injured in the incident. Tomar tried to evade the police during a routine check and when they attempted to catch him, he fired one round at them.
