Maharashtra train assault case: GRP to re-arrest accused trio as court cancels bail

With a court cancelling the bail granted to three men arrested for allegedly assaulting an elderly man in an express train on the suspicion of carrying beef in Maharashtra's Nashik, the Government Railway Police (GRP) has launched an operation to trace the trio to re-arrest them in the case, officials said.

The court cancelled their bail on Monday, 2 September after the police added the charges of dacoity and hurting religious feelings against them.

The 72-year-old victim, Ashraf Ali Sayyed Hussain, from Jalgaon district in north Maharashtra, was assaulted by a group on board the Dhule-Mumbai CSMT Express on 28 August on the suspicion of carrying beef.

A video of the incident went viral on social media and the police arrested three men from Dhule - Akash Awhad (30), Nitesh Ahire (30) and Jayesh Mohite (21) - on 31 August. They were presented in a court the next day, which granted bail to them.

As the GRP could not keep them in its custody after they were granted bail, the accused were allowed to go home, an official said, adding that the trio was going to Mumbai to take part in a police recruitment drive when the incident took place.

Based on the additional information provided by the victim, the police added charges of dacoity and hurting religious sentiments in the case, and also applied to cancel the bail, he said.

The same court then allowed the police's plea and cancelled the bail granted to the three accused on Monday, 2 September paving the way for their re-arrest, the official said.

Anticipating that the accused persons will return to their residences in Dhule, police personnel were deployed outside their residences in plain clothes, but the trio was not found there, he said.

As a result, the GRP has launched an operation to trace and nab the three accused, the official said.

The GRP is trying to apprehend all individuals involved in the case, the official said.