Congress opposition leader and MLA Vijay Wadettiwar has criticised the BJP-led Mahayuti state government after a Bombay High Court inquiry report concluded that five policemen are responsible for the fake encounter of Akshay Shinde. The forensic report has stated that no fingerprints of rape-accused Akshay Shinde were found on the gun.

Wadettiwar tweeted that the court had exposed the propaganda by the then BJP-led Mahayuti government on the eve of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.

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“The court investigation has concluded that five policemen are responsible for the encounter case of Akshay Shinde, who was an accused in the Badlapur rape case. Similarly, the forensic report has stated that there are no fingerprints of Akshay Shinde on the gun. On the one hand, no action was taken against the BJP organisation leader in the Badlapur case, while on the other hand, the leader of an organisation related to the BJP was saved by staging a fake encounter of the accused Akshay Shinde. The fake narrative by the then Mahayuti government on the eve of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections has been exposed by the Bombay High Court today,” Wadettiwar tweeted through his X handle.

“The responsibility for this encounter lies as much with the police as with the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis because there was a competition to take credit for this police encounter to portray themselves as heroes who deliver instant justice,” Wadettiwar tweeted, criticising the Mahayuti government. He alleged that the Mahayuti government had utilised the issue purely to harvest votes before the 2024 state assembly elections.

Meanwhile, reacting to the Bombay High Court probe report, NCP chief and Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar, said, “I was watching the news on TV about this development. I will speak to the Home Ministry Secretary about this. After getting information about what exactly happened, what they investigated and what the final picture looks like, I will speak later”.

According to the Bombay inquiry report, read out by Justice Revati Mohite Dere in the court, Akshay Shinde was killed in a fake encounter by five police personnel.

The report stated that Akshay Shinde’s handprints were not found on the police revolver. However, the police had claimed that he snatched a police revolver and opened fire at the police.

The report stated that the police’s claim about firing at Akshay in self-defence is dubious. According to material collected from the scene after Akshay Shinde’s death in the fake encounter and the FSL report, the allegations made by his parents proved to be correct.

In Adarsh Vidyalaya, Badlapur East, a four-year-old girl and a six-year-old girl were allegedly raped by Akshay Shinde, a school guard. After the incident came to light, families of the girls rushed to the police station on August 16. The families alleged that the police delayed registering the case for 12 hours, after which Akshay Shinde was arrested in this case.

Later, he was killed in a fake encounter on September 23, 2024, according to the court’s inquiry report. While Shinde was being taken for remand from Taloja Jail, the police had claimed that he pulled out Assistant Police Inspector Nilesh More’s service revolver and fired three bullets at More.

One of these bullets hit cop’s leg and two bullets missed. The police claimed that another police officer who was with him, fired in self-defence. Two bullets were fired at Akshay Shinde. One of these bullets hit his head and the other hit his body, the police had claimed.