Badlapur rape accused shot dead in police custody after firing at police

A man was arrested for Rape of two girls in a school in Badlapur, MaharashtraAkshay Shinde was shot dead by police on Monday after he snatched a gun from a policeman and opened fire at them. Two policemen were also injured in the incident.

According to police, the accused Shinde snatched the gun from a police officer and opened fire as he was being taken out of the prison in a police vehicle at around 5.30 p.m. Several shots were fired, injuring police officers.

Police officers opened fire on Shinde, who was being brought to Badlapur from Taloja jail for questioning, officials added. He was critically injured in the firing and later died in hospital.

The officers injured in the incident are Assistant Police Inspector Nilesh More and Inspector Sanjay Shinde, who shot at the accused. Sanjay Shinde was involved in the arrest of Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar while he was attached to the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Thane Crime Branch headed by Encounter Specialist Pradeep Sharma. He is a member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the state to probe the Badlapur case.

The incident sparked a political debate in the state, with the opposition questioning the incident while the government claimed it was an act of self-defence.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the “man accused in a rape case was being detained for investigation when he snatched the gun from the police and opened fire at them.” He stressed, “The police shot at him in self-defence.”

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP (UBT) Priyanka Chaturvedi termed it a textbook example of 'shoot and run' tactic. She said, “The accused is dead and the other co-accused under POCSO, who were both school board members and BJP office-bearers, are absconding. This is a textbook example of 'shoot and run' tactic of an incompetent government.”

“It will soon become clear: No one sexually molested the six-year-olds. A story written, promoted and carried out by the state government,” Chaturvedi tweeted.

Shinde was arrested on August 17 for Sexual abuse of two girls aged four and five in a school toilet five days earlier. The incident sparked massive protests in the area. Shinde worked as a cleaner at the school.

Initially, the local police investigated the case, but the Maharashtra government set up a special investigation team after violent public protests against serious failures in the police investigation.

A case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has also been filed against the school's chairman and secretary for not immediately reporting the incident to the police and for acting negligently. On Monday, the two approached the Bombay High Court seeking pre-arrest bail.

In August Bombay High Court intervened became aware of the case on its own initiative and is now monitoring the investigation.