A magistrate's inquiry conducted over the encounter of Akshay Shinde, accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case, has held five police personnel responsible for the custodial death of the accused.
The magistrate submitted the inquiry report in a sealed cover to the Bombay High Court, while hearing Shinde's father, Anna Shinde’s plea claiming the police had killed his son in a fake encounter.
The officials involved included senior police inspector Sanjay Shinde of the Thane crime branch, assistant police inspector Nilesh More, head constables Abhijeet More and Harish Tawade and a police driver, PTI reported.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale directed the state government to register a case based on the inquiry report and sought details of the agency that will be probing the case. "The magistrate has conducted an inquiry and submitted its report. In the report, the magistrate has concluded that the five cops are responsible for the death of accused Akshay Shinde," PTI reported quoting the bench.
"You (government) are bound to file an FIR based on this magistrate report. Tell us which agency will investigate the matter," the court said. "We shall keep the original report and all documents and witness statements annexed to it with us for now. The prosecution might need it later when it probes the case," the bench observed.
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The court asked the state government to inform the bench within two weeks, details regarding the probe agency that would be investigating the case.
Akshay Shinde (24), an attendant at a school in Badlapur was arrested in August 2024 for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls inside the toilet of the school. On September 23 last year, Shinde was killed in an alleged police shootout while being taken from the Taloja prison for questioning.
According to police, Shinde snatched the gun from one of the police personnel in the police van, opened fire, and was killed in retaliatory firing. Senior police inspector Sanjay Shinde shot Akshay, while API Nilesh More, two constables and a police driver were present in the van at the time of the shootout.
