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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said that the death of Badlapur sexual assault accused Akshay Shinde appeared to involve foul play and could not be termed an encounter.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice P.K. Chavan was hearing a petition filed by the father of Akshay Shinde, alleging that his son was killed to protect other persons involved in the case.

Akshay Shinde was killed in an encounter on Monday while being taken from the court by the police. Shinde allegedly pulled out the revolver of an officer and fired three rounds. Subsequently, one of the officers shot Shinde.

Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, appearing for the Mumbai Police, informed the bench that the revolver of the police officer was not locked. The bench responded and said,

“This is very hard to believe. Have you fired a pistol anytime? It requires strength. Unless it is an Austrian-made pistol. So in the scuffle, it was difficult to aspect. A layman cannot file a pistol unless he is trained. It requires strength. A weak man cannot pull the Slider back. There is a strip attached to the pistol, was it there or not? Whether there was a lanyard to the pistol? Why it was not there? Why it was not locked? What is SOP? What are the guidelines? Why you should be so negligent? And was he handcuffed?” the court said.

The bench further questioned the police, stating that ordinarily, he should have been shot in the arm or leg. It implied that it was difficult to believe that four police officers could not overpower Shinde

“It seems there are four empty shells. Three by him and one by the officer. Ordinarily, you would fire on the leg. How did you fire on the head? The object was to disarm him. There were four of you officers trained and one of the officers was in past involved in encounters. So four trained police officers couldn't overpower him who is not trained in operating firearms? Police are trained we understand if laypersons did it,” the court said.

The bench orally directed Venegaonkar to preserve the CCTV footage of Akshay’s parents meeting him before the encounter. The bench will now hear the petition next Thursday.