Badlapur encounter: Akshay Shinde’s parents want to withdraw son’s custodial death case 

Parents of Akshay Shinde. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Parents of Badlapur sexual assault accused Akshay Shinde (24), who was shot dead in an alleged encounter with the Thane police in September 2024, informed the Bombay High Court on Thursday (February 6, 2025) that they do not want to pursue their son’s custodial death case anymore.  

The parents had earlier moved the High Court with a petition seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate their son’s death and that it was a staged encounter by the police.   

On Thursday (February 6, 2025), the parents told the Division Bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale that they could not run around anymore for getting a logical conclusion of the case and they requested the Bench to allow them to withdraw the case. 

The judges asked them whether they were under anyone’s pressure to withdraw the case as the case could not be closed suddenly when there had been numerous developments in the matter. The parents responded that they were under no pressure and that it was their independent decision to withdraw the case as the running around had caused a lot of difficulty in their daily lives.  

Magistrate report

On January 20, 2025, the magistrate inquiry report submitted before the High Court found that five police officers: senior inspector Sanjay Shinde from the Thane crime branch, assistant inspector Nilesh More, head constables Abhijeet More, Harish Tawade and police van driver Satish Khatal, were responsible for the custodial death of Akshay Shinde.   

The five Thane police officers were present in a moving van with Akshay Shinde when he was shot dead on September 23, 2024, found the report. But the police had claimed that the accused snatched a gun from a constable and injured him and his action forced the police to shoot him down.  

The magistrate’s report stated that the police officers were in a position to easily handle the situation without resorting to force and that the police officers’ action to encounter was not justified in the case.  

Sexual assault

Accused Akshay Shinde (24) was arrested on the charges of sexually assaulting two kindergarten girls inside the toilet of a school in Badlapur town of Thane district in Maharashtra. He was the school attendant. He died in an alleged encounter while being taken in a van from Taloja prison to Thane for questioning. 

During the hearing on Thursday, the Bench questioned Special Public Prosecutor Amit Desai, representing the State government, why there has been a delay in registering an FIR against the police officers mentioned in the magistrate’s report.  

Mr. Desai said the State could not register an FIR against the errant police personnel on the basis of magistrate’s report. Only after the judicial commission, headed by former Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale of the Allahabad Court, submitted its report, the decision to register an FIR would be taken. He also added that an independent investigation by the State CID was still ongoing. 

“Magisterial enquiry is for the cause of death. It is a limited enquiry. He is not supposed to go into who is responsible. You need powers of investigation to look into every aspect of the matter. A magistrate does not have the powers of investigation,” Mr. Desai submitted, adding that since the case involves a custodial death, an FIR should only be filed if there was unimpeachable evidence as per the precedents set by the Supreme Court.“ 

The Bench said that after an Accidental Death Report (ADR) was filed, the State government must register an FIR in the case.  

“Commission of enquiry is a parallel thing, but as far as ADR is concerned, it has to be taken to a logical end. Further, the court report cannot be on paper without action. It is a full-fledged report with statements. Is the State not duty-bound to register an FIR?” the Bench asked.  

Mr. Desai responded that FIR could not be filed based on ADR without a proper investigation. To this, the petitioner parents’ counsel questioned the FIR filed against deceased accused Shinde without any proper investigation. This was a clear discrimination between the poor and the police, counsel said.  

The Bench will continue to hear the matter on February 7, 2025.