'Someone pulled my hair, I lost my cool': Mumbai train murder accused Omkar Shinde

MUMBAI: Omkar Shinde, the 27-year-old man arrested on Sunday for the murder of a college teacher inside a local train following a spat over alighting, told investigators that someone had pulled his hair in the compartment and he presumed it was the victim.

Police are yet to find the murder weapon, a small pair of tongs used to pick jewels, which Shinde disposed of following the incident.On Saturday evening, Alok Kumar Singh (33), a teacher at Narsee Monjee College, was waiting in the passage of a Borivli-bound slow local to get off at Maladstation. Shinde was standing behind him and asked him if he wanted to alight and, if so, to move ahead. Singh responded that there was a female passenger in front of him.

The two were bickering till the train reached the station around 5.45 pm. Shinde allegedly stabbed Singh in the left side of his abdomen with a small pair of tongs and jumped off the train.

He was arrested in less than 24 hours.Shinde has told investigators that someone had pulled his hair in the compartment, which caused him to lose his cool. Presuming it to be Singh, he pulled out the pair of small tongs from his trouser pocket.

Working in theimitation jewellery industry, the tongs were a part of a tool kit that he carried with him to work and back home.Shinde claimed he was not aware that the consequence of his action would be fatal. On Tuesday, a police team from Borivli GRP (Govt Railway Police) took Shinde to his residence in a bid to search for the murder weapon. He was also taken along the route that he took after the incident. He is yet to point out where he disposed of the weapon.Police have also shown CCTV footage of the incident and the events that transpired thereafter to the family of the victim, who have been alleging a delay in treatment. Refuting the allegations, police and WR officials said Singh was moved to the Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivli between 6 pm and 6.05 pm, within 20 minutes of the incident. He was pronounced dead on admission at the hospital at 6.15 pm. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a WR staffer said Singh’s colleague, Sudhir Kumar Trivedi, who was accompanying him in the train and is the prime witness, held a handkerchief on the wound to stop blood flow. Trivedi and other passengers were dialling railway helplines to seek medical assistance.