Accused in child sexual abuse case in Badlapur shot during skirmish with police

In a shocking development, Akshay Shinde – the sole accused in the much-talked about Badlapur child sexual assault case – was allegedly shot in return fire during an alleged skirmish with a police team on Monday. He was admitted to hospital in a critical condition.

According to reports, another policeman was also injured in the sudden exchange of fire. Both Shinde and the injured policeman were admitted to a hospital in Kalwa for treatment.

The incident occurred when Shinde was being taken by a police escort from Taloja Jail to Badlapur town in Thane district for investigation in another case in which he is an accused.

On the way, Shinde allegedly snatched a gun from the police officer accompanying him and fired once at himself and once at the police officer accompanying him, while other police officers tried to overpower him. One of the police officers accompanying Shinde returned fire at Shinde in “self-defense” and seriously injured him.

Full details of the incident were not available at the time of going to press.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the state parliament, Vijay Wadettiwar of the Congress, demanded to know “whether the incident was an attempt to destroy evidence in the case”.

Shiv Sena (UBT) vice-chairman Sushma Andhare demanded a CBI investigation into the incident.

It may be recalled that two kindergarten girls – aged four and six – were allegedly sexually abused by cleaning staff Shinde while using the toilet in the washroom of the kindergarten run by the Adarsh ​​Vidya Prasarak Sanstha (AVPS) on August 13.

Shinde was arrested on August 17 and his police custody was subsequently extended till August 26 after all the lawyers of the Kalyan Bar Association decided not to defend him in the case.