Wrong to say he fired at cop first: Kin of Badlapur sexual assault accused claim

Thane: The family members of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde have challenged the police claim that he fired at a policeman first following which cops fired in self-defence which led to his death.

Shinde's kin also claimed that police pressured him for a confession in the sexual assault case.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday night said a high-level probe has been ordered into the incidents leading to Shinde's death.

Shinde's body was taken from the Kalwa civic hospital in Thane to the state-run J J Hospital in neighbouring Mumbai for postmortem on Tuesday morning, a senior Thane police official said.

The autopsy was being conducted at the J J hospital, he added.

Shinde, 24, was accused of sexually assaulting two minor girls at a school in Badlapur town of Thane district.

A contractual sweeper at the school in Badlapur, Shinde was arrested on August 17, five days after he allegedly sexually abused the two girls in the school toilet.

He was killed near Mumbra Bypass in Thane on Monday evening when he allegedly snatched the gun of a policeman while he was being ferried in a police vehicle as part of a probe into a case registered against him on the complaint of his former wife, an official earlier said.

After he shot and injured an API, another officer from the police escort team fired at him, and he was declared dead by doctors at the Kalwa civic hospital, the official said.

However, his family members have challenged the theory that Shinde fired at the policeman first and later the cops retaliated.

"It is wrong to say that he first snatched the gun of a policeman and fired at him, and later the police fired at him in self-defence," Shinde's mother and uncle told reporters outside the Kalwa hospital on Monday night.

"The police got the confessional statement written by him under pressure to the effect that he has committed the crime. What they got written from him, he only knows," they claimed.

Akshay Shinde's father Anna Shinde said an inquiry should be conducted into his son's killing.

His mother and uncle alleged it was a conspiracy by police and management of the Badlapur school.

They claimed Akshay had told his kin that he was being beaten up police in custody and he also sent a chit seeking money.

His mother and uncle questioned the police version and asserted he could not have snatched the weapon of a policeman.

He was not depressed, they added.

"The police have killed our child. The school management must also be probed. The police got him to write something but we don't know what it is, only he knew it," the kin further alleged.

"My son was afraid of bursting crackers and crossing the road. How can he shoot at policemen?" Akshay's mother asked.

His family members also said he should have been taken to the court for trial in the case against him, and how did the police shoot him dead.

"The charges (in cases against Akshay) are not proved," they said.

Akshay's mother said he used to ask her when he will be released.

Some videos showing the body being taken for the autopsy on Tuesday surfaced on social media.

Akshay's parents were also seen waiting outside the locked gates of the well-guarded Kalwa civic hospital to have a glimpse of their dead son, but in vain.

No one was allowed near the room where the body was kept in the Kalwa hospital after doctors pronounced Shinde dead.

The area around the hospital turned into a fortress with a large number of police personnel deployed there.

Meanwhile, NCP (SP) Kalwa-Mumbra MLA Jitendra Awhad also challenged the police version and termed it as "baseless".

"How can a handcuffed accused snatch the revolver of a policeman and fire at him, when five more policemen are around," Awhad told a TV channel.

He claimed the ruling party will take full credit for the entire incident in the upcoming state assembly elections.

"It is for sure that they have planned and killed him," Awhad further claimed.

He said everyone knows who the school belongs to where the sexual abuse incident had taken place. "Who is that Apte?" he questioned.