Badlapur sexual assault case: Opposition raises questions on accused's death, CM Shinde reacts

Akshay Shinde in police custody. File Pic/Navneet Barate

The Opposition in Maharashtra on Monday questioned the death of the Badlapur sexual assault case accused.

Congress leader and former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan told a news channel that the incident has raised many doubts. He wondered whether the accused was 'killed' to protect real culprits in the sexual assault case.

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"First the police said the accused attempted a suicide. Later they said they fired at him in self defence. This is laughable," he said.

Opposition leader in the Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar demanded a judicial inquiry in the suspected killing.

"We will go to its logical end and petition the governor for a judicial inquiry," he added.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde described the Opposition's stance of siding with the accused.

"The Opposition's comments are unfortunate. They should have thought about injured police officers too. But they are scared because they see defeat in the elections. It is out of this that they are levelling such baseless charges," said CM Shinde, adding, "It is the same Opposition that had demanded a capital punishment for the accused in the children's sexual assault case."

Deputy CM and home minister Devendra Fadnavis confirmed that the police opened fire at the accused in self defence. He resonated with the CM's views on the Opposition's charges.

Akshay Shinde, the accused has died in the firing incident, the hospital said on Monday.

Shinde was rushed to a hospital after being injured in a firing incident, the police sources said.

Three cops were injured in the incident. One of the cops was shifted to Jupiter Hospital in Thane and two others are admitted at Kalwa civic hospital.

Sources said that Shinde allegedly snatched weapon from the police team and fired one of the officer who had got injuries and in retaliation he was shot by police and seriously injured in the incident. He was later shifted to a hospital where he was pronounced dead by the doctors.

M Eknath Shinde said that a fresh case was filed against Akshay Shinde by his ex- wife and the police had taken his custody in that case for further investigations. While he was being transported by the police, he opened fire on the police party and in retaliation the police shot him.