Badlapur sexual assaults case: HC raises questions over encounter killing of Akshay Shinde

MUMBAI: Over four months after Akshay Shinde, the accused in the Badlapur school sexual assaults case, was killed in what the police claimed was retaliatory firing, the Bombay high court on Monday raised serious doubts about the genuineness of the police encounter after going through a judicial inquiry report into the incident.

The high court also directed the Maharastra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the allegations of the petitioner, Akshay Shinde’s father Anna Shinde, that he was being threatened and pressured to withdraw the case. Anna Shinde has claimed that his son’s death was a cold-blooded murder committed by the police for political reasons.

The bench of justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela Gokhale ordered the state CID to submit a report after investigating Anna Shinde’s allegations by February 6. The bench passed the order after advocate Amit Katarnavare, representing Shinde, requested the court to provide police protection to his client because of the alleged threats to withdraw the case. He also claimed that Shinde was being coerced to change his lawyer.

Akshay Shinde was killed in a police encounter on September 23 when the Thane crime branch was escorting him from Taloja Central Jail in a police van for questioning. According to the police, Shinde snatched a service pistol from an officer seated next to him and fired three rounds, injuring an officer in the thigh. The police claimed that Shinde attempted to fire again before an officer shot him in the head, killing him instantly.

However, the judicial inquiry report submitted by a magistrate to the high court on January 19 cast doubts on the police’s version, strengthening the petitioner’s claims. On Monday, the court noted the report established that no fingerprints were found on the weapon allegedly used by Shinde to shoot the police officer and nor were bullet marks found at the scene, which contradicted the police’s statements. Moreover, the report suggested that the official account of the incident could have been fabricated.

The judicial inquiry report had found five police officers responsible for the custodial death, stating that their claims were doubtful and there was substance in Anna Shinde’s allegations that the encounter was fake.

Out of the five officers, four—police inspector (PI) Sanjay Shinde, (API) assistant police inspector Nilesh More, and constables Abhijeet More and Harish Tawde—filed intervention petitions on Monday to present their defence. PI Sanjay Shinde, who allegedly shot dead Akshay Shinde, and API Nilesh More, whose service weapon was allegedly snatched by the deceased accused, sought copies of the magistrate’s report.

Akshay Shinde, 24, was arrested on August 16, 2024, for allegedly sexually assaulting two four-year-old girls at a pre-primary school in Badlapur East, where he worked as a cleaning staff member. He was arrested on August 17, while the police also booked the school principal and two trustees of the educational institute that runs the school.

The sexual assault, the school management’s response, and the police’s tardiness 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 announced the appointment of a Special Investigative Team to take charge of the case, which would be fast-tracked. Shinde was killed in a police encounter a month later.