Haryana man raped, teenager murdered in Valsad in Gujarat, had committed murder on trains in four states, arrested

The Gujarat Police have arrested a 29-year-old serial killer from Haryana, who was involved in the murder of four people on trains in four states, for raping and murdering a 19-year-old girl in Valsad district, police said.

Rahul Singh Jat, a native of Haryana’s Rohtak, was arrested from Vapi railway station on November 24 as part of an investigation that began after the teenager’s body was found near the tracks near Udvada railway station on November 14. Police said the victim returned. home from school in the evening when she was attacked from behind, raped and murdered.

Valsad Superintendent of Police (SP) Karanraj Vaghela said the T-shirt and bag left by Jat at the crime scene were important clues for the police. “One of the images provided the police with a clear picture of the suspect, who was identified as Rahul Jat by an official of Surat Central Jail in Lajpore,” he said, adding that he had committed the crime after being arrested earlier this year got out of jail in a case. .

“Jat was arrested from the parking lot of Vapi railway station in Valsad on Sunday evening in a joint operation carried out by local police and railway police. Jat traveled a lot and constantly changed locations. We’ve discovered he’s involved in at least four cases. of looting and killings on trains and at railway stations in Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana and Maharashtra,” the SP said.

The SP said the serial killer had looted and killed a woman on a train near Secunderabad railway station in Telangana a day before his arrest. He also said that Jat traveled a lot and changed locations frequently.

Talking about the previous crimes committed by Jat, the police official said, “Just a day before his arrest, he had looted and murdered a woman in a train near Secunderabad railway station. In October he raped and murdered a woman on a train. near Solapur railway station in Maharashtra. He stabbed an elderly man to death on a Katihar Express train near Howrah railway station in West Bengal. He is also accused of murdering a train passenger in Mulki Karnataka.”

He was arrested after a massive search operation involving police units from Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka and checking of footage from 2,000 CCTV cameras in Vapi, Valsad, Surat and Udvada, he added.

Police said Jat looted people when he found them alone and raped women, especially in the coaches for disabled passengers. They also said it was difficult to catch him because he kept moving and mostly slept at train stations and on trains.

‘Jat traveled by train and committed looting and murder. He visited Surat, Valsad and Vapi four to five times in the past year. He had come here to collect his paycheck from a hotel where he worked. He raped and murdered the 19 year olds. birthday girl during this visit,” said the SP.

SP Vaghela said Jat also had more than a dozen cases registered against him in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and confessed to committing five murders in a month.

The SP also said that the serial killer was jailed in 2018-2019 and 2024 in cases related to truck theft and illegal arms smuggling in Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He raped and murdered the Valsad teen after he was released from prison, police said.

“The biggest success achieved by Valsad police was that during the full interrogation of the suspect, he confessed that he had also committed four other murders,” SP Vaghela said.

Jat studied till class 5 and has been involved in theft and criminal activities since childhood. Troubled by his habits, the family had severed ties with him.

(with inputs from Baidyanath Jha, Kaushik Joshi and PTI)