Badlapur sexual assault accused dies in police encounter, one cop injured

Akshay Shinde snatched a police officer's gun and opened fire at the cops. The officials retaliated, during which he sustained critical injuries. Later, he was admitted to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

In a dramatic turn of events, the 23-year-old accused of Badlapur child sexual assault case Akshay Shinde was shot dead by the policemen in defence when he allegedly snatched a policeman's pistol and shot a police officer in a bid to escape police custody. He fired a total three rounds. The cross firing incident occurred when Shinde was being taken to Thane by the officers of Thane Crime branch for questioning.

Shinde was being taken for interrogation in connection with a separate case filed by his second wife in 2022 alleging unnatural sexual assaults by Shinde, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Akshay Shinde was an attendant at the school in Thane and allegedly raped two nursery girls inside the school toilet. He was arrested on August 17 --- five days after the children reported the assaults to their parents. 

Coming on the heels of the horrific rape-murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hopsital, the incident had led to massive protests in the town. Thousands had blocked railway lines for hours and had to be forcibly removed by the police.

The Bombay High Court, which had taken up the case on its own, had sharply criticised the police investigation, especially pointing its deviation from rules in the questioning of the children. 

The government later formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by senior IPS officer Arti Singh to probe the sexual assault case.