4 killings on trains, then teen’s rape-murder: Serial killer caught in Gujarat

The Gujarat Police arrested a 29-year-old serial killer from Haryana, who was involved in the murders 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 on November 24 at Vapi railway station as part of an investigation that began after the teen’s body was found near the tracks close to Udvada railway station on November 14. Police said the victim was returning home from tuition in the evening that day when she was attacked from behind, raped and murdered.
Valsad Superintendent of Police (SP) Karanraj Vaghela said the t-shirt and the bag left by Jat at the crime scene became important clues for the police. “One of the footage gave police a clear photo of the suspect, who was identified by an official of Surat’s Lajpore central jail as Rahul Jat,” he said, adding that he committed the crime after coming out of jail earlier this year in a case.
“Jat was arrested 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,” 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 travelled extensively and frequently changed his location.
Detailing the previous crimes Jat had committed, the police official said, “Only a day before his arrest, he had looted a woman and murdered her on a train near Secunderabad railway station. In October, he had raped and murdered a woman on a train near Solapur railway station in Maharashtra. He stabbed to death an elderly man on a Katihar Express train near Howrah railway station in West Bengal. He is also accused of murdering a train passenger in Mulki in Karnataka.”
He was nabbed after a massive search operation involving police units from Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka and checking the footage of 2000 CCTV cameras in Vapi, Valsad, Surat and Udvada, he added.
Police said Jat looted people whenever he found them alone and raped women, especially in the coaches for differently-abled passengers. They also said that nabbing him was tough since he kept moving and mostly slept at railway stations and on trains.
“Jat travelled on trains and committed loot and murder. He visited Surat, Valsad and Vapi four to five times in the past 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,” the SP said.
SP Vaghela said Jat had more than a dozen cases registered against him in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as well and confessed to committing five murders in a month.
The SP also said that the serial killer was jailed in 2018-19 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 being released from jail, police said.
“The biggest success Valsad Police got was that during the complete interrogation of the accused, he confessed that he had also committed four other murders,” SP Vaghela said.
Jat has studied till Class 5 and has been involved in theft and criminal activities since childhood. Troubled by his habits, the family had broken their ties with him.