Badlapur encounter: Maharashtra DGP forms new SIT to probe custodial death of accused

Maharashtra Police forms SIT to investigate custodial death of Akshay Shinde in Badlapur sexual assault case.

“The Director General of Police (DGP) Maharashtra has formed a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the custodial death of Akshay Shinde, the accused in the Badlapur school sexual assault case,” an official said on Thursday (May 15, 2025). “DGP Rashmi Shukla formed the SIT as per the Supreme Court’s orders,” he said.

The SIT will be headed by Datta Shinde, Additional Commissioner of Police, attached to Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police who is a deputy inspector general-rank official.

It includes a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) from Pimpri Chinchwad, an assistant commissioner of police, two senior inspectors, one of them from Navi Mumbai, two assistant police inspectors, one sub-inspector, and an assistant sub-inspector.

“Besides the DCP and senior police inspector, all officers are from MBVV commissionerate,” the official said. “The SIT has taken in its possession all case-related documents from the Crime Investigation Department (CID) which was probing the case earlier, and started a fresh investigation,” he said.

“Additional Commissioner of Police Datta Shinde has worked in Thane and Navi Mumbai and knows the area,” the official said. He also has served as superintendent of police at Palghar.

Akshay Shinde (24), accused of sexually assaulting two kindergarten girls at a school at Badlapur in Thane district, was killed in police firing when he allegedly snatched a policeman's weapon and opened fire while being taken to the Badlapur police station from Taloja central prison on September 23, 2024. Akshay Shinde's family moved the Bombay High Court, claiming that it was a fake encounter.

As the CID did not register a case against the police officials despite its orders, the Bombay High Court directed that an SIT headed by the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Lakhmi Gautam should probe the case.