A view of the Bombay High Court. File
| Photo Credit: Today News 24
The Bombay High Court on Thursday (October 3, 2024) ordered an expedited magisterial inquiry into the alleged custodial death of Akshay Shinde, the prime accused of sexual assault of two kindergarten school students in a school in Badlapur. The High court asked the enquiry report to be submitted by November 18, 2024.
Directing the orders, a Division Bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj K. Chavan said all the evidence and documents related to the case has to be collected, preserved, checked by forensic experts and the Thane police must include strong forensic evidence to probe the matter of alleged encounter of the deceased Akshay Shinde.
“Law mandates that when there is a custodial death, the investigation be conducted by the Magistrate. Let the investigation be conducted. We will wait for the report of the Magistrate. The report shall be placed before us on November 18. The Magistrate inquiry report is expedited,” the High Court observed.
The Bench questioned the State Criminal Investigation Department [CID] on the progress of the investigation and also asked Thane police whether they have collected all the forensic evidence from the deceased’s body. “Every firearm has a peculiar pattern. The residue it leaves is also different. The residue left on the deceased’s head where he was shot, his hands when he opened fire from the police’s pistol, all of it needs to be collected, preserved, and analysed forensically. Dead body is the most silent and honest witness,” the Bench observed.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf responded to the Bench that all the directions issued by the High Court are being followed and all the relevant documents are compiled and are forwarded to the Magistrate for inquiry.
Noting that bullets were fired from two different firearms in the incident, the Bench said, “The empty shells that were found were of two different arms. The firing pin of every gun is different. This can be a conclusive proof which firing arm will have which firing pin. We want to see a report showing this conclusively. How far did the bullet go? It was a secluded area. Did you not find it?”
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Mr. Saraf responded that the CID would investigate the matter. The Court asked whether the forensic expert had examined the vehicle in which the incident took place and collected the bottle/glass that was given to the accused to drink water, but the police informed they haven’t. “It is an important piece of evidence,” the judges said.
The court also sought medical report of the police officer who sustained injury in the firing. “Has the police officer who sustained gunshot injury examined properly? Was there any residue or blackening at the spot? Was there entry and exit wound on the thigh of the police officer who got hurt? We need to see his injury certificate,” the Court asked.
Shinde was shot dead in September by Thane police in an alleged encounter case. Following his death, his father Anna Shinde moved the High Court urging to judges to direct a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter.
On September 25, 2024, the court raised tough questions to Thane police and refused to accept the encounter narrative submitted by the police.
Published – October 03, 2024 02:59 pm IST