'Politics of hate' blamed for cop murdering train passengers in India

The "politics of hate" and communal polarisation in India are being blamed for an incident where an armed police officer murdered four people, including his colleague, on a moving train on Monday.

The shooting suspect has been identified as 34-year-old Chetan Singh, a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Using an automatic rifle, Singh killed his senior colleague Tika Ram Meena who was an assistant sub-inspector and then murdered three passengers.

The passengers travelling on the train from Jaipur towards Mumbai were identified as Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala, Asgar Abbas Sheikh and Sadar Mohammed Hussain, according to local media reports.

In a video of the incident circulating on social media, the police officer is heard making Hindu nationalist statements.

"The cold-blooded murders carried out by an RPF constable is the result of a hyper-charged and highly polarised news media and social media atmosphere. The genie of hate is now out of the bottle and it will take a lot of collective effort to put it back in," said Congress party spokesperson Jairam Ramesh.

"This is a terror attack that specifically targeted Muslims," said All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party president Asaduddin Owaisi.

He called the train attack a result of Hindu nationalist leaders making hate speeches.

The police officer wearing a khaki uniform was heard in the viral video making political statements as one of the victims lies bloodied on the floor.

According to an RPF statement quoted in the media, the police officer shot his three victims in two different coaches and the pantry car.

"He 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," RPF inspector-general Praveen Sinha told the media.

The constable was on duty to provide security to the train.

Netizens questioned the police version, asking how a "hot-headed" man went around in an apparent cold-blooded manner looking for his victims.

- Bernama

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