Badlapur sexual assault accused death: Shinde, Fadnavis groups vie for credit

Mumbai: In the wake of the controversial police encounter that resulted in the death of Akshay Shinde, the accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case, two ruling allies have engaged in a public display of claiming credit for the suspect’s ‘elimination’.
A day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena celebrated the killing by bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets in Badlapur, mysterious posters featuring Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appeared across Mumbai. The posters, brandishing the phrase ‘Badla Pura’ (revenge completed), were seen in prominent locations such as Kherwadi, Andheri, Lalbaug, and Sion Circles.
Although the posters bore no names, they are believed to have been arranged by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. Some were later removed by local police stations. The billboards, which appeared around midnight on Tuesday, depicted Fadnavis, who also serves as home minister, wielding a revolver and gun. The message, boldly written in Hindi, seemed to imply that the BJP leader had ensured appropriate punishment for the heinous crime committed against two minor schoolgirls in Badlapur.
Shinde, 24, a contractual worker at the Badlapur school, faced charges of sexual assault. He died on Monday in what police described as an act of self-defence during an encounter. According to reports, Shinde had allegedly snatched a revolver from a policeman and opened fire on the police while being transported from Taloja jail to Badlapur in connection with another sexual assault case filed by his former wife.
Following the encounter, supporters of Shinde’s Shiv Sena celebrated in Badlapur and Nashik, expressing their approval of the police action. Both Shinde and Fadnavis justified the police response, while opposition members accused the government of orchestrating a planned killing to protect other suspects in the case. Notably, other accused individuals, including school trustees, remain at large.
Additional posters appeared elsewhere in Mumbai, seemingly arranged by the BJP, comparing policing under the previous Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government with the current administration led by Fadnavis. Written in Marathi, these banners claimed, “During the MVA rule, police collected money on behalf of the government; now, the police protect the public.”