Akshay Shinde encounter killing: SC orders DGP to constitute SIT, supervise probe

MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Monday accepted the Maharashtra government’s demand to get director general of police (DGP) Rashmi Shukla to pick the special investigation team (SIT) to probe the encounter killing of Akshay Shinde, the arrested accused in the August 2024 Badlapur school sexual assaults case.

The apex court modified the Bombay high court’s order asking Mumbai crime branch chief Lakhmi Gautam to constitute the SIT. The high court had also asked Gautam to register an FIR against the five policemen involved in the encounter and had picked the officers to investigate the case. The high court was acting on Shinde’s father Anna Shinde’s petition, which alleged that his son was killed in a fake encounter for political reasons and sought an independent probe into the incident.

However, a Supreme Court bench comprising justices Bela Trivedi and Prasanna Varale on Monday modified the high court’s order and directed DGP Shukla to set up the SIT and choose the investigating officers. “Let it be conducted either by the DGP or any nominee,” the bench said.

The court passed the order on a petition filed by the Maharashtra government challenging the high court’s order. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta had submitted that the state had no issue with the constitution of an SIT, but it should be under the supervision of the DGP.

The apex court agreed with his contentions, observing that the high court should not have selected the SIT members. “Having regard to the nature and seriousness of the allegations and concerns expressed by the high court, we modify the order to the extent of constituting the SIT. We direct the SIT to be constituted by the DGP and officers selected by the DGP as deemed fit. The state shall do the needful in handing papers to DGP,” the bench said.

The court also clarified that the complainant, Anna Shinde, may approach the competent court for appropriate relief if he had any grievances.

The Supreme Court’s decision would come as relief for the Maharashtra government, days after the high court had rebuked it for its “reluctance” to lodge an FIR against the five police officers involved in the September 2024 encounter. The high court has repeatedly criticised the state government for delays and non-compliance in the investigation. Shukla, who will now set up the SIT, is considered to be close to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Akshay Shinde, who was working as a cleaner in a Badlapur school, was arrested on August 16 last year for allegedly sexually assaulting two four-year-old girls. He was killed on September 23 in a police encounter while being transported in a police van from Taloja jail to Thane.

According to the police, Shinde had snatched a service pistol from an officer seated next to him in the van and fired three rounds, one of which hit an officer in his thigh. As he attempted to fire the weapon again, an officer shot him in the head, killing him instantly, the police claimed.

In January, a judicial magistrate’s inquiry into the encounter concluded that the force used by the five policemen in the altercation with Shinde was “unjustified” and that they were responsible for his death. As per the inquiry report, Shinde’s fingerprints weren’t found on the gun he allegedly used to fire at the police officers. The police’s stance that they fired in retaliation was “unjustified and under the shadow of suspicion,” the report stated. The magistrate’s findings had prompted the high court to order an SIT probe into the encounter.