Haryana man raped, killed teenager in Gujarat’s Valsad, went on murder spree on trains in 4 states, arrested

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 Rohtak in Haryana, was arrested on November 24 at Vapi railway station 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 was returning from classes the evening of that day 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 became important clues to the police. “In one of the videos, the police saw a clear photo of the suspect, whom the officer of Surat Central Jail in Lajpore identified as Rahul Jat,” he said, adding that he committed the crime after his release from jail earlier this year in connection with the case.

“Jat was arrested at 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 his place of residence. We have found him to be involved in at least four cases of looting and murder in trains and railway stations in Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana and Maharashtra,” the SP said.

The SP said that a day before his arrest, the serial killer had robbed and killed a woman on a train near Secunderabad railway station in Telangana. He also said that Jat traveled a lot and changed his place of residence often.

Describing Jat’s previous crimes, a police official said, “Just a day before his arrest, he robbed a woman and murdered her 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 added that he was caught after an extensive search involving police units from Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka and checking footage from 2,000 CCTV cameras in Vapi, Valsad, Surat and Udvada.

Police said Jat robbed people whenever he met them and raped women, especially on buses for disabled passengers. They also said it was difficult to catch him because he was constantly on the move and mostly slept in train stations and on trains.

“The Jat traveled in trains and committed looting and murder. He has visited Surat, Valsad and Vapi four to five times in the last one year. He came here to collect his salary from the hotel where he worked. He raped and murdered a 19-year-old girl during this visit,” said the SP.

SP Vaghela said that over a dozen cases were registered against Jat in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and he confessed to committing five murders in a month.

The SP also said that the serial killer was jailed between 2018-19 and 2024 in cases related to truck theft and illegal arms smuggling in Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Police say he raped and murdered a teenage girl from Valsad after being released from prison.

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

Jat studied until the fifth grade and was involved in theft and criminal activities from childhood. The family, concerned about his habits, cut off ties with him.

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