Phone of Katihar Express murder victim leads police to ‘serial killer’

Secuirty personnel at Howrah Railway Station in Kolkata. File photo used for representational purpose only.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Howrah Government Railway Police (GRP) and the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have unearthed inter-State links to a ‘serial killer’, tracing the moving signal of the mobile phone of the handicapped passenger recently found dead on Katihar Express.

The accused, 30-year-old Rahul alias Bholu Karamveer Jat, is a resident of Haryana’s Rohtak district and was recently nabbed by Valsad Police in Gujarat, in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 19-year-old college student. 

According to CID sources, during the investigation of the case, the accused confessed to committing multiple crimes across States like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana, including the murder of the Katihar Express passenger. 

The body of the deceased passenger, identified as Soumitra Chatterjee, was found on November 19 on the upper berth of the handicapped compartment of the Katihar Express on its arrival at Howrah Station. 

The deceased’s body was covered in a blanket and had multiple stab injuries. His belongings, including his phone, were missing. 

Howrah GRP was investigating the case with assistance from the CID. 

The accused has reportedly been described by Gujarat Police as a “serial killer”, given his connections to multiple murder cases between October and November. 

“On November 20, the deceased’s phone could be traced. We tracked the phone’s movement and found it was following the railway tracks through Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. After reaching Salem in Tamil Nadu, the phone was again unreachable,” sources at Howrah GRP said on Tuesday. 

They added that the accused had most likely boarded the Ernakulam Express after committing the crime. The movement of the deceased’s phone, which the accused was carrying, resembled the route of Ernakulam Express, police said.

“On November 25, we received information on the accused after Valsad Police retrieved the deceased’s mobile phone from him during their investigation,” Howrah GRP officials said. Valsad Police arrested the accused in connection with the college student’s rape and murder.

According to police sources, the modus operandi of the accused allegedly involved boarding the handicapped compartment of moving trains and committing crimes against handicapped and women passengers, mainly for material gain. 

Police officials suspect that after committing the murder and stealing the victim’s belongings, the accused would board another train and repeat the process.

“He is mentally unstable and a drug addict. There are several criminal cases against him in multiple States, which include murders and crimes against women,” police sources said.