Eknath Shinde defends cops for Badlapur encounter: 'What if accused had run away?'

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday defended the police over the custodial death of Akshay Shinde, who was accused of sexually assaulting two minor girls at a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra's Thane. The chief minister said the officers shot him in self-defence. 

"The police shot in self-defence. They had guns not for a showpiece. If he had fled, the Opposition would have criticised and said that we made him flee. The cops got injured in the encounter. We should support the police," he said while speaking at India Today Conclave Mumbai. 

Akshay Shinde had four wives and one of them had filed a case of unnatural sex against him and that she had called him a "monster", the chief minister said. "The woman had filed an FIR against him (Akshay Shinde). She gave a statement and said he was a monster. He had four wives. Imagine what cruelty he had meted out to them." 

"When he had sexually assaulted those girls (in Badlapur) who are the same age as his daughters, imagine what they (victims) had gone through. This is an unfortunate incident," the chief minister added.

Eknath Shinde accused the Opposition of changing its stance over the incident. "They had blocked railway services for nine hours at Badlapur railway station. They said that we would hang the culprit here. And now, when the encounter happened, they are blaming us. This is politics of hypocrisy," he said.

Akshay Shinde was accused of sexually assaulting two minor girls at a school in Badlapur. He was being taken to Badlapur from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai on Monday evening in connection with an FIR registered against him on the complaint of his former wife when the firing incident took place, which resulted in his death. 

Akshay Shinde was killed near Mumbra bypass in Thane 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, as per police. 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 police had claimed. 

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court today made some serious observations against the state police. The court said the shoot-out could have been avoided if the police had tried to overpower Shinde first. It was very hard to believe that he managed to seize a pistol from a police officer and open fire, it added.

Why the accused was shot in the head, and not on hand or legs first? the court asked. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said if it finds that the probe is not being done properly, then it would be constrained to pass appropriate orders. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on October 3.

(With inputs from PTI)