Badlapur Sexual Assault: Slain accused Shinde’s father, minors’ lawyer move HC, seeking SIT

THANE: A day after Akshay Shinde, arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two four-year-old girls in a Badlapur school last month, was killed in a police encounter, his father, Anna Shinde, and the lawyer of the two minors’ families, Asim Sarode, filed separate petitions in the Bombay high court seeking a special investigation team (SIT) be constituted to probe the incident.

Claiming that his 24-year-old son’s death was a cold-blooded murder committed by people in uniform, Anna Shinde requested the high court to monitor the SIT’s investigation. The petition is listed for hearing before a division bench of justice Revati Mohite Dere and justice Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday.

Sarode’s petition also sought a court-monitored probe into the encounter, saying that “the process of justice has been compromised seemingly in a pre-planned manner”. The petition questioned how a handcuffed accused could have overpowered police officers, disarmed them, unlocked the gun and fired three shots at them.

According to the Thane police, Shinde was killed in retaliatory firing after he snatched the gun of a police officer and shot him in the leg. The incident occurred near Mumbra Bypass on Monday evening while Thane crime branch officers were escorting Shinde in a police vehicle from Taloja Central Jail for questioning in a case of unnatural sex filed by his estranged wife.

As things stand, the investigation into Monday’s encounter will be conducted by Maharashtra’s Crime Investigation Department (CID), according to a senior officer in the Thane police.

A case has been registered against Shinde at the Mumbra police station for allegedly attempting to kill police personnel, said the Thane police’s public relations officer (PRO), Shailesh Salvi, at a press conference on Tuesday. However, Salvi refused to answer questions such as whether Shinde was handcuffed, how could he have snatched a police officer’s gun if he was handcuffed, and how the officer’s service pistol was unlocked. Salvi said he would be able to answer these questions only after the investigation is over.

A senior Thane police officer, who did not wish to be named, said that a pistol can be unlocked in a scuffle and added that he had seen pistols unlocked by mishandling during practice sessions. The senior officer also said that the standard protocol was followed in Shinde’s case, and accordingly, the police officers were carrying loaded firearms with them.

Salvi revealed what police inspector (PI) Sanjay Shinde, who shot Akshay Shinde dead, said in his statement to the Mumbra police. According to the statement, PI Shinde was initially sitting in the front section of the police van along with the driver and assistant police inspector (API) Nilesh More. Two police constables, Abhijieet More and Harish Tawde, were seated with Akshay Shinde in the van’s rear section.

When the van reached Mumbra Bypass, Akshay Shinde allegedly started asking where he was being taken and went on to abuse the constables. API More and PI Shinde then stopped the vehicle and went to sit with the accused in the rear section of the police van with the intention of pacifying him, according to the statement.

Around 6.15 pm, when the van reached the steps leading towards Mumbra Devi temple, Akshay Shinde allegedly tried to snatch API More’s service weapon. “In the scuffle, the gun got loaded, and a bullet was fired. It hit API More on his thigh,” PI Shinde said in his statement.

As More was injured, Akshay Shinde allegedly snatched his gun and fired two rounds at the other officers. “Fortunately, the rounds went stray and, as he was trying to fire more bullets, I took out my service weapon and fired a round at the accused in self-defence. The accused was injured and fell down,” PI Shinde’s statement said.

While API More was admitted to the Jupiter Hospital in Thane with a flesh wound, Akshay Shinde was taken to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa, where he was declared dead. His body was then taken to the Grant Medical College & Sir JJ Group of Hospitals in Mumbai for post-mortem on Monday evening.

The report of the post-mortem, conducted by a team of five doctors led by Dr BG Chikhalkar, noted that there was a single bullet mark on the left side of Akshay Shinde’s head, according to a source. The report attributed the cause of death to shock and bleeding, adding that no foreign objects were found on the body. Shinde’s body and the post-mortem report was handed over to the Mumbra police on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, the Thane police have submitted a report to the National Human Rights Commission, the state CID and the Maharashtra director general of police reiterating that the accused was killed in retaliatory firing after he tried to kill the policemen escorting him from Taloja jail. The state CID will now take over the investigation into Akshay Shinde’s death, said the senior Thane police officer quoted earlier.

HT also spoke to a resident of Mumbra, Jamil Shaikh, who said he had noticed the police van stopping on the side of the road on Monday. “Initially, we thought someone had just stopped by to urinate. But then, we heard three gunshots. Then, we saw a policeman hurrying to start the van, before they hurriedly drove off towards Kalwa.”

The police had arrested Akshay Shinde, who worked as a cleaner at the Badlapur school, on August 17, days after the alleged sexual assaults took place in the girls’ toilet. The incident, along with the school management’s negligence and the Badlapur police’s delay in registering an FIR, became a flashpoint for thousands of protestors to erupt on the streets and the railway tracks in Badlapur on August 20.

The Maharashtra government then appointed a Special Investigative Team led by senior IPS officer Arti Singh to take charge of the case and said it would be fast-tracked. The SIT filed two charge sheets in the case earlier this month based on the complaints of the two girls.

One of the charge sheets contains medical reports, which state that the prolonged sexual assault of the four-year-old from August 5-12 broke her hymen and left her with deep injuries. The other charge sheet held the school authorities responsible for negligence and also said the Badlapur police did not take prompt action after the parents of the minor approached them.