Police personnel at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital after Akshay Shinde, an accused in Badlapur school sexual assault case, shot dead by the police in self-defence, in Thane.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thane: In a shocking turn of events, Akshay Anna Shinde, the prime accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case involving two minor girls in a school, was shot dead by police during an exchange of fire in a police van in Thane district on Monday.
While Akshay Shinde (24) was being escorted from the Taloja Jail to Badlapur for investigation in a case of unnatural sex filed by his estranged second wife, the shoot-out took place near the Mumbra Bypass between 1800 to 1815 hrs, police said.
According to preliminary reports, while inside the police van, Akshay Shinde snatched the service pistol of Assistant Police Inspector Nilesh More, and fired three rounds.
One bullet hit More, who sustained injury on his thigh.
In the retaliatory fire by another police officer, he was injured and immediately rushed to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalwa, where he was pronounced dead on admission.
Inspector More has been admitted to the Jupiter Hospital in Thane.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state Home Minister, confirmed that the accused was killed in retaliatory fire by the police.
“When he was being escorted, he snatched the firearm of a police personnel and shot him and injured. In the retaliatory fire by the escort team he sustained gunshot wounds,” said Shinde, who hails from the Thane district.
“The preliminary information that I have is that the accused died in the retaliatory fire by the police,” said Fadnavis.
Shinde was hired on a contractual basis to clean their toilets on August 1. But within a fortnight of joining, he allegedly sexually assaulted two nursery girls on different days.
After people came to the streets and staged protests at the Badlapur suburban station, an FIR was filed by the Thane police after much delay.
The incident came close on the heels of the horrific rape-murder of a young doctor at R G Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata.
Later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate into the matter and it has chargesheets in both the cases before the special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court in Kalyan.
“I am not aware of what exactly has happened. I am not in Mumbai,” said Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi opposition launched a scathing attack at the Maha Yuti dispensation after the encounter.