Thane: On Monday evening, in a shocking development, Akshay Shinde, the prime accused in the sensational Badlapur rape case of two nursery school girls in August, allegedly snatched a cop’s gun and was shot at in return fire. He was critically injured and admitted to a hospital, where he died during treatment.
Another policeman was reportedly hurt in the abrupt firing, and both were rushed to a hospital in Kalwe for treatment.
The incident — suspected to be an ‘encounter’ by the police in self-defence’ — occurred when Shinde was being shifted by a police escort from Taloja Jail to Badlapur town for investigation in another case in which he was an accused.
As the police jeep entered the Thane Police jurisdiction, Shinde allegedly snatched a policeman’s gun and fired around one round at himself and another at the police, even as other police personnel attempted to overpower him.
Shinde, who suffered grievous bullet injuries in the scuffle, and the injured policeman have been rushed to a nearby hospital.
The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders have strongly slammed the ruling MahaYuti regime and raised serious questions about the circumstances leading to the incident, demanding a probe.
Congress’ Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar demanded to know “whether this was an attempt to destroy evidence” in the matter. At the same time, Shiv Sena (UBT) Deputy Leader Sushma Andhare called for “a CBI investigation into the episode”.
On August 12-13, Shinde had allegedly sexually assaulted two minor girls, aged three and five, in the Adarsh Vidya Prasarak Sanstha (AVPS) premises that led to a nationwide furore, a huge public protests in Badlapur with a rail and road blockage for over 10 hours.
The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and other top national and state leaders echoed the incident, even as Shinde was arrested and charged with stringent offences.
Later, the state government appointed ace lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as the Special Public Prosecutor in the case and a Special Investigation Team was formed to probe the double rape, while the government removed the AVPS trustees and appointed an Administrator.
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–IANS
