MID-DAY ASKS| Badlapur encounter: 13 questions cops must answer

Ashutosh Dumbre, Thane police chief. Pic/Anurag Ahire

The circumstances surrounding the death of Badlapur sexual assault accused Akshay Shinde at the hands of police inspector Sanjay Shinde while being transported in a police van raise several questions. Here are 13 particularly pertinent ones.

1. Why were Akshay Shinde's hands not cuffed, considering he was an accused in a highly sensitive case?

2. Why was he transported in a large police van instead of a smaller police jeep?

3. Why were the van's windows covered with curtains?

Akshay Shinde, the accused

4. Why was his custody taken late in the evening, when he was supposed to be presented before the court after a medical examination? Courts generally close by 6.30 pm.

5. How did Akshay Shinde manage to snatch API Nilesh More's pistol and fire it? Was the pistol unlocked?

6. Was the pistol not secured with the lanyard, rope provided to the officers?

7. Why did PI Sanjay Shinde shoot him in the head, resulting in his death? Why wasn't he first shot in the leg, as per standard procedure?

8. Why was an officer like Sanjay Shinde, with a questionable background, appointed to the SIT, formed by the state government to investigate the sexual assault case, by the Thane Police Commissioner?

9. Why was PI Sanjay Shinde recalled in the middle of the investigation and transferred to the Central Unit of Crime Branch?

10. Why was Sanjay Shinde made part of the new SIT and appointed as the investigating officer for the unnatural sex case based on the complaint from Akshay Shinde's wife?

11. Why wasn't the unnatural sex case handed to Aarti Singh's SIT, which would have strengthened the investigation into the minor sexual assault case?

12. Even if the Thane police wanted to investigate the case, why wasn't a female officer assigned to investigate the claims made by Akshay Shinde's ex-wife?

13. Why was Akshay Shinde's family not allowed to see his body when they visited the hospital?