The arrest of a man on charges of raping and killing a 19-year-old woman in Gujarat has opened up a can of worms, with police officers saying the accused committed at least four other murders, mostly on trains, across states in less than a month.

Rahul Karamveer Jat, a resident of Rohtak in Haryana, was arrested from Vapi Railway Station in Gujarat’s Valsad on November 24, after a massive search involving police units from various states and scanning of at least 2,000 CCTV cameras across several Gujarat districts.

Police said the accused, a Class 5 dropout who has confessed to the crimes, looted and murdered people whenever he found them alone, and raped women, especially in the coaches meant for differently-abled passengers. Getting a hold of him was tough since he kept moving and mostly slept at railway platforms and in trains.

“He was arrested 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,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Karanraj Vaghela said.

The skeletons tumbled out of the cupboard when the Valsad district police launched a probe into the murder of the woman, whose body was found near the tracks close to Udvada railway station on November 14. A forensic examination revealed that the woman was raped.

Police said as several search teams were formed, the accused was spotted on CCTVs at the railway station, wearing the same clothes that were recovered from the area where the woman’s body was found. The CCTV footage also showed Jat relishing some food, after committing the chilling crime, at the railway station.

The accused was spotted at Udvada railway station after he raped and murdered the woman.

“He had come here to collect his salary from a hotel where he worked, and raped and killed the woman during his visit. The woman was returning home from tuition when the incident occurred,” the SP said.

Police said Jat committed four other murders before and after raping and killing the woman.

Only a day before his arrest, the accused looted and murdered a woman on a train near Secunderabad railway station in Telangana. In October, he raped and murdered a woman on a train near Solapur railway station in Maharashtra. Later, he stabbed to death an elderly man on Katihar express train near Howrah railway station in West Bengal. He is also accused of murdering a train passenger in Mulki in Karnataka.

As the accused’s photograph was mapped with the national database of prisoners, police learnt that he was released from Jodhpur central jail earlier this year, where he was lodged in connection with a robbery case.

Jat’s father has passed away and his family has disowned him, police said. After quitting studies in Class 5, he engaged in various acts of loot in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. There are 13 first information reports (FIRs) registered against him.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)