Rahul raj Kundan Prasad Singh is suspected to have been “very angry and possibly off-balance” much before he got on to the bus. Policemen who visited the hotel room in Andheri (East) where Singh stayed said he smashed a window pane and also broke a bulb in the room. “These seem to be the result of his rage against something,” said a police officer.

Singh, the officer said, reached the city early on October 26 and checked in the four-storey Imperial Palace hotel. “He paid a deposit of Rs 2,500 and was given a room on the second floor. The rest of the day, he spent roaming around in the city. He withdrew some money from a local HDFC Bank branch,” said the officer.

Hotel workers told The Indian Express that Singh rented an air-conditioned room. “He checked in at around 1 am on the morning of October 26, left the room early this morning without checking out. As his luggage was in the room, we thought he would return,” said a hotel staffer. Police said Singh’s bag had certificates showing he had studied X-ray technology. “The certificates suggest he had come here to look for employment,” said the police officer.

Asked if killing him could have been avoided, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central) Sadanand Date said: “All we knew was he had a firearm and there were frightened passengers nearby. We got to know from witnesses that he fired a few rounds and that a passenger was injured in the hip. We feel we applied reasonable and necessary force in the situation.”