Court orders mental health evaluation of ex-RPF constable accused of killing 3 Muslim men

A sessions court has directed the Thane Central Jail authorities to admit dismissed Railway Police constable Chetan Singh, accused of shooting dead three Muslim passengers and his senior officer on a moving train in 2023, to the Regional Mental Hospital in Thane for evaluation and treatment, the Hindustan Times reported on Friday.

In an order delivered on Wednesday, the court directed that the hospital submit fortnightly reports on his condition, including an opinion on whether he is fit to stand trial and capable of conducting his defence.

The direction came during hearings on his second bail application.

On March 2, Singh’s lawyer, Pankaj Ghildiyal, argued that he should be granted bail because of his allegedly unstable mental condition.

The court had asked jail authorities on March 10 to submit a report on Singh’s behaviour in prison by March 25. However, no such report was filed.

Singh, who is in Thane Central Jail, had spent four months at the Regional Mental Hospital in Thane last year after authorities at Akola Central Jail raised concerns about his behaviour. He was let out in June, with the discharge papers describing him as “cooperative, communicative, oriented to time, place and person’’, the newspaper reported.

In December as well, Singh was examined at the Thane prison hospital on the court’s...

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