The father of Akshay Shinde, accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case, on Tuesday moved to the Bombay High Court seeking an SIT probe in the retaliatory firing which killed his son. In his petition, Anna Shinde alleged that his son was killed in a "fake encounter". He demanded that an SIT should be formed to investigate the killing and the high court should monitor the investigation.
Anna Shinde's advocate Amit Katarnaware said, "The accused was in custody when he was shot dead in a fake encounter. This is a cold-blooded murder by criminals in uniforms." A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Prithviraj Chavan will hear the petition on Wednesday.
Badlapur sexual assault case
Akshay, 24, who worked as a contractual sweeper at a school in Badlapur town of Thane district was arrested on August 17 after massive outrage by the public over the allegations of sexual assault of two minor girls in school.
How did Akshay die?
On Monday, the police were taking him from Navi Mumbai's Taoja jail to Badlapur in connection with an FIR registered against him on the complaint of his former wife. He was killed near Mumbra bypass when he allegedly snatched a policeman's gun, officials claimed.
After he shot and injured an assistant inspector of police, another officer fired at him in retaliation, due to which he was badly wounded. He was declared dead at the Kalwa civil hospital, the police claimed.
Development so far in the case
Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra government said that the state Crime Investigation Department (CID) will conduct a probe into his death. The postmortem of Akshay Shinde was done at Mumbai's JJ Hospital. A team of five doctors conducted the postmortem in accordance with the guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission. The body and report were handed over to the Mumbra Police by the hospital.
In light of the incident, a team of forensic science experts was deployed to examine the police vehicle involved in the encounter. This is part of a broader effort to gather evidence and understand the circumstances surrounding Shinde's death. A CID team is expected to visit the Mumbra bypass crime scene and take statements from the police officers who were present during the incident.
