Janitor accused in Badlapur child assault killed in encounter.

The hospital where the body of the accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case was brought. (Express photo by Deepak Joshi)A 23-year-old janitorial staff member accused of the Badlapur child sexual assault was allegedly gunned down in a police encounter on Mumbra bypass in Thane district on Monday, according to officers from Thane police.

Senior police officers from Thane police said that the accused was shot dead by policemen in self-defence after he allegedly snatched a policeman’s pistol and fired at a police team escorting him in a bid to escape police custody.

The police said the accused fired total three rounds and a police officer sustained an injury in the incident. He, however, was killed in the police firing.

The cross-firing took place when the accused was being taken to Thane by the officers of Thane crime branch in connection with the inquiry in a separate case filed by his second wife in 2022 alleging unnatural sexual assaults by him, a senior police officer told The Indian Express.

Police said he was lodged in Taloja jail and left the prison around 5:30 pm. He was being taken to Thane by a team from the Thane crime branch for further investigation when the cross-firing took place, said the police officer.

He was arrested on August 17, two days after the Police Stations in Rohini released the first FIR on August 16, which confirmed the medical examinations conducted on both girls regarding sexual abuse.

The SIT, headed by IG-rank IPS officer Aarti Singh, has filed chargesheets in both cases before the special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act court in Kalyan last week. It said that it had built a robust case against the accused.

Akshay Shinde succumbed to injuries from cross-firing with police officials on Mumbai bypass in the Thane district, the Thane Police said.
The Thane Police said Shinde snatched a pistol and fired at an assistant police inspector while trying to flee from police custody.

Police had to retaliate against the accused who was shot due to the firing and was shifted to the hospital. This was when Shinde was being taken from Taloja jail to Thane.

He was taken to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa on Monday night, and on Tuesday morning, his panchnama was carried out in the presence of a judicial officer.

Shinde was accused of assaulting two four-year old girls in the school washroom where he was a cleaner from August 12 through to August 13.

The girl had confessed the crime to her parents in secret, whereafter medical tests were done to prove the accusation.

The case has sent shock waves throughout the nation which came to be known in mid-August, and the ‘massive protests’ in Badlapur have evoked out the parents, where they sought answers over the safety measures that these schools had taken in place by sending away young girls and students.