MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday ordered the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) under the supervision of Mumbai Police Crime Branch joint commissioner Lakhmi Gautam to probe the death of Akshay Shinde, who was shot in the head by the Thane Police last year.
Gautam has also been told to appoint a deputy commissioner of police-rank officer (DCP) to lead the SIT and select the police officers who would be part of this team.
Shinde, 24, who was employed as a cleaner in the school, was arrested on August 16 for the sexual assault of two four-year-old girls at the pre-premary school in Badlapur East on August 12 and 13. He was killed on September 23 near Mumbra while being transported in a police van from Taloja jail to Thane in connection with another case based on the complaint lodged by his estranged wife.
A division bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale said Gautam should proceed with the registration of FIR at the earliest if a cognizable offence was found to have been committed.
According to the police, Shinde snatched a service pistol from an officer seated next to him in the van and fired three rounds, one of which hit an officer in the thigh. As he attempted to fire the weapon again, an officer shot him in the head, killing him instantly, the police claimed.
A judicial magistrate, however, expressed doubts about the police version and submitted a report that held the five policemen responsible for Shinde’s death, saying that the officers escorting Shinde used unnecessary force while handling the situation.
The Maharashtra government had opposed the petition seeking registration of a first information report (FIR) into Shinde’s killing, saying it had found no basis to register the case against five policemen.
Senior advocate Manjula Rao, who was appointed as amicus curiae (friend of the court) to assist in the case, told the bench that an FIR should have been registered against five policemen involved in the alleged encounter.
Rao said the judicial magistrate’s inquiry report into Shinde’s extra-judicial killing, along with his father’s complaints to various police authorities—including the director general of police, commissioner of police (Thane), and Kalwa police station—should have been treated as grounds for filing an FIR.
