Mumbai: The killing of the accused in the Badlapur school sexual molestation case, Akshay Shinde, 24, in a so-called encounter by police, has opened a can of worms. The Badlapur police have a lot of answering to do. Shinde was being escorted from Taloja Central Jail to Badlapur on Monday when the incident took place, around 6 pm at Mumbra Bypass.
Police said Shinde had suddenly whipped out the revolver from the holster of a policeman sitting next to him and fired three shots. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in charge of the home portfolio, told the media soon after the incident that one of the shots was fired in the air.
The questions urgently begging for an answer are:
■ How did Shinde, a janitor employed by the school, who was handling a weapon for the first time in his life – flip out the holster strap, pull out the revolver, remove the safety catch, and press the trigger in a matter of seconds, which only a professional can do and that too only after a lot of practice?
■ Policemen in Maharashtra are normally issued .38 bore revolvers, which, when loaded, weigh almost a kilo. Shinde would have to have been a pro to have pulled it out of the holster of the cop in a jiffy.
■ In a sitting position, the holster with the weapon inside it is pressed against the waist, making it impossible to pull it out with ease. How did Shinde, a novice, do it?
■ As an accused in a major crime, as per the rulebook Shinde would have been handcuffed while in transit. How did he achieve the feat of snatching the weapon?
■ Why would the accused Shinde open fire in the air (as claimed by Fadnavis) if his target was the escorting party?
■ Whose decision was it to include Inspector Sanjay Shinde – formerly a member of the team of ‘encounter specialist’ Pradeep Sharma, to whose dubious credit redounds the killing of 312 criminals – in the escort team?
■ Normally officers of the rank of inspector and above are not tasked with escort duty. So why was Inspector Sanjay Shinde asked to escort the accused Shinde?
■ Assistant Police Inspector Nilesh More is reported to have been shot in the thigh by accused Shinde. Why are police not confirming that the shot was indeed fired from the service revolver of a fellow officer?
■ How did Inspector Sanjay Shinde open fire point-blank, exactly at the forehead of the accused (supposedly in retaliation), killing him instantly in a moving van amid all the bedlam in the vehicle?
■ Why did it take the escorting team several hours to file an FIR about the incident?
■ Why was Thane Police Commissioner Ashutosh Dumbare unable to satisfactorily answer questions posed to him by the media about the ‘encounter’?
These and other questions need to be answered if the state government’s version is to be believed.
