Cop who shot Badlapur rape accused has worked with top encounter specialist

Sanjay Shinde has previously worked with the anti-extortion cell of the Thane Police Crime Branch, then headed by suspended cop Pradeep Sharma, who was known as an 'encounter specialist'.

In Short

• Badlapur rape accused Akshay Shinde killed in police custody
• He snatched police weapon, fired at cops
• Inspector Sanjay Shinde killed Akshay in retaliatory fire

Akshay Shinde, accused of raping two minor girls in Maharashtra's Badlapur, was killed by cops after he snatched an officer's weapon and opened fire at them. Notably, police inspector Sanjay Shinde, whose bullet killed Akshay, has in the past worked with suspended former cop Pradeep Sharma, who was known as an 'encounter specialist'.

According to the police, Akshay Shinde snatched a weapon from an officer and fired at the cops while he was being transported to Badlapur from Taloja jail for investigation on Monday evening. In the firing, Sanjay Shinde and Assistant Police Inspector Nilesh More were injured.

Sanjay Shinde had previously worked with the anti-extortion cell of the Thane Police Crime Branch, then headed by Pradeep Sharma. He was part of the team which arrested gangster Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar.

Pradeep Sharma was popular as an 'encounter specialist' in the Mumbai Police, credited with eliminating over 100 criminals during his career. Joining the police force in 1983, Sharma rose to fame in the 1990s for his involvement in high-profile encounters targeting members of the Mumbai underworld, particularly gangsters linked to the Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan gangs.

Sharma was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the case of the fake encounter of Lakhan Bhaiya in 2006, who allegedly was the former aide of the notorious gangster Chhota Rajan.

Sanjay Shinde has also served in the Mumbai Police in the past. Currently, he is part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the state government to probe the Badlapur rape case.

Notably, Sanjay Shinde faced suspension and inquiry when Vijay Palande, a murder accused, fled police custody. He was accused of helping the Palande escape as officials found that they both knew each other. Shinde's uniform was also found in Palandes car.

In 2014, Shinde was reinstated by the Mumbai Police.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has accused the ruling Mahayuti government of killing the accused in police custody to deny justice to the girls' families.

"The accused is dead and the other co-accused under POCSO who were the school board members as well as BJP office bearers are on the run. Such a textbook case of shoot and scoot tactics applied by incompetent government. Coming soon, nobody sexually assaulted the six year olds. A story written, sponsored and executed by the state government," Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said in a post on X.