Mumbai: A day after Akshay Shinde, accused of sexually assaulting two minor girls in a Badlapur school, died in police custody, the Opposition has sharpened its attack on the ruling Mahayuti, asking the question: where are the other co-accused with “links to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)?”
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) the Maharashtra government set up to probe the alleged sexual assault of the two four-year-olds at the private school filed two chargesheets in the case last week. The chargesheet named the school principal, the chairman and the secretary of the educational institution as co-accused in the case for allegedly failing to report the incident as required under the POCSO Act.
The chairman, Uday Kotwal, as well as the secretary, Tushar Apte, have been absconding and approached the Bombay HC Monday seeking anticipatory bail.
The school principal, Archana Athavale, has been cooperating with the police, an officer part of the SIT told ThePrint, requesting anonymity.
Apte has been associated with the BJP, as per his Facebook profile. His brother, Chetan Apte, was vice president of the Badlapur unit of the BJP.
Kotwal is said to be connected with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological parent. Another trustee, Nandkishor Patkar, though he has not been named as a co-accused, is also a BJP member.
According to the police’s version of events, Akshay Shinde was being taken to Badlapur from Taloja jail in connection with the police investigation into allegations against him when he allegedly snatched the revolver of an assistant police inspector, opened fire and died in the resultant retaliatory firing.
Police say the 24-year-old fired at the assistant police inspector and injured him.
Akshay Shinde’s family, on the other hand, allege that the police and the school management conspired to kill him.
Leaders from all three parties of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)—Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)—have raised questions over Akshay Shinde’s death in police custody, alleging that it was an “extra judicial killing” simply to protect the absconding school management members owing to their political links.
On Tuesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, in a post on X said, “Where are the trustees of the Badlapur school? Why are they being protected by the BJP-Mindhe regime?”
Since the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders refer to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as ‘Mindhe,’ as a wordplay on ‘Mindha,’ which means someone who is under pressure.
Thackeray added, “It is understood that the trustees of the school have affiliation to the BJP. And they are being protected. Is it true?”
Advocate Asim Sarode, who is representing one of the minor girls, filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay HC Tuesday asking for an investigation into the “extra judicial killing under the surveillance and control of the Honourable High Court”.
“I am not at all concerned with the death of the accused, but I am unhappy, disturbed, and worried that the death of the accused has actually killed the process of justice … The main intention behind seeking this particular relief is that the victim’s right to justice through due process of law is to be recognised, which is now compromised,” Sarode told ThePrint.
He added that further investigation would have helped in tracing the role of the other accused in the case, who are currently absconding.
Leaders of the ruling Mahayuti, meanwhile, slammed opposition parties for questioning Akshay Shinde’s death, alleging they are siding with him. “What is the Opposition saying? What is their message? What meaning should we draw out of this? Should police suffer bullets,” Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said during a press conference Tuesday.
Also Read: How alleged sexual assault of 2 minors at Badlapur school led to clash between protesters, police
The investigation and the co-accused
The police arrested 24-year-old Akshay Shinde last month for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls in the private school’s washroom.
Akshay Shinde worked as a cleaner in the school. The arrests came after widespread protests by parents of students and local Badlapur residents who demanded prompt action.
Families of the victims had alleged a delay in the police filing an FIR.
Speaking to ThePrint last month, family members of one of the victims said the school authorities did not heed their complaints, while the police made the family members wait outside the police station for 12 hours before registering their complaint.
After the protests, the Maharashtra government formed an SIT under IPS officer Arti Singh to probe the allegations.
Members of the SIT who did not wish to be named told ThePrint that the investigation was tricky in parts. The school did not have functioning surveillance cameras on the day of the alleged incident.
The SIT was able to ascertain the presence of the accused at the scene with the help of a CCTV camera the civic body installed at the entrance of the school. SIT members said there was no paperwork for the employment of Akshay Shinde. He was working on verbal orders through the contractor.
The principal, chairman and secretary of the school trust were charged as co-accused as per Section 21 of the POCSO Act that deals with punishment for failure to report or record a sexual offence against a child.
Members of the SIT said it is a bailable and a non-cognisable offence so they could not arrest the co-accused immediately. A notice was served to all three of them, but the chairman and secretary remained absconding, while only the principal responded to the notice and cooperated.
For the chairman and the secretary, considering they are absconding, it is grounds for arrest and the SIT has written to the Thane police multiple times requesting it to make efforts in tracing the co-accused and to rope in its cyber cell for the same.
Another reason for the case catching the attention of the Opposition in Maharashtra is that Thane is the home turf of CM Eknath Shinde.
‘Deliberate strategy’
Jayant Patil, Maharashtra president of the NCP (Sharatchandra Pawar), alleged there was deliberate delay in filing the FIR to save the school and Akshay Shinde’s “extra judicial killing” could have been a strategy. “If the accused (Akshay Shinde) had started talking, then the police themselves would have been in a spot,” he remarked.
Similarly, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole raised three questions on X. He asked why the absconding accused can’t be traced and arrested, if there is an attempt to “end the case by encountering (sic) the main accused to save the absconding accused,” and if the “encounter” was a “high-level effort to suppress the whole matter.
Speaking to reporters Monday, advocate Sarode also questioned how Akshay Shinde could access a police revolver, which is usually locked.
In his petition in the Bombay HC, Sarode asked the court to direct authorities to safeguard all relevant CCTV footage, jail diary entries and other pertinent records to prevent any “extra judicial action”. He has also asked the court to order that the body of the deceased be preserved and an autopsy be conducted by independent medical experts.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: ‘Behaviour changed 2 wks ago.’ Kin of Badlapur schoolgirl fear minor may have been assaulted even before