Badlapur minor girls' rape case accused injured in 'police encounter'

In a shocking development, Akshay Shinde -- the prime accused in the sensational Badlapur rape case of two nursery school girls in August -- who allegedly grabbed a policeman’s gun, was allegedly shot at in return fire and injured seriously, here on Monday evening. 

Another policeman is reported to be injured in the sudden firing, and both have been admitted to a hospital in Kalwe town 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 is 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 and further details are awaited.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders have strongly slammed the ruling MahaYuti regime and raised serious questions over the circumstances leading to the incident while demanding a probe.

Congress’ Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar demanded to know “whether this was an attempt to destroy evidence” in the matter while 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 incident was echoed by the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other top national and state leaders, even as Shinde was arrested and slapped with stringent charges.

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.