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

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 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 IPS Pradeep Sharma.
Pradeep Sharma is known for his role 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.
Sanjay Shinde was part of the team which arrested gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar.
He 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.