For the rape and killing of a 19-year-old girl in the Valsad district, Gujarat police detained a suspected serial killer who has committed killings in four other states.
The body of the 19-year-old female was discovered on November 14 near the tracks near the Udvada railway station, and authorities apprehended Rahul Jat of Rohtak, Haryana.
According to officials, the youngster was ambushed, raped, and killed in the evening as she was on her way home from tuition.
According to an officer who spoke to PTI, Jat allegedly robbed and killed a woman on a train close to Secunderabad railway station in Telangana the day before he was arrested.
“Rahul Jat was held from the parking lot of Vapi railway station in Valsad on Sunday night in a joint operation carried out by local and railway police. Jat travelled extensively and kept changing his location. We have found that he is involved in at least four cases of loot and murder on trains and at railway stations in Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana and Maharashtra,” said superintendent of police, Karanraj Vaghela.
He raped and killed a woman aboard a train at the Solapur railway station in Maharashtra in October, according to the police. In West Bengal, he also fatally stabbed an elderly man on the Katihar express train close to the Howrah train station.
Jat is also charged with killing a train passenger in Mulki, Karnataka. According to SP Vaghela, Jat was the subject of over a dozen cases in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana. “Jat travelled on trains and committed loot and murder. He visited Surat, Valsad and Vapi four to five times in the last one year. He had come here to collect his salary from a hotel where he worked. He raped and murdered the 19-year-old girl during this visit,” he told the agency.
Following a thorough search that involved police units from several states and the review of material from 2000 CCTV cameras in Vapi, Valsad, Surat, and Udvada, the police were able to apprehend Jat. The authorities had a clear image of Rahul Jat thanks to CCTV footage.
According to the authorities, Jat was imprisoned in Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh between 2018–19 and 2024 in connection with truck theft and illicit arms smuggling. They also claimed that he molested women, particularly in the coaches designated for travelers with disabilities, and plundered people whenever he discovered them alone. It was difficult to apprehend him because he continued to move and slept primarily on train platforms.
