Badlapur encounter: High court flays police for not reconstructing crime scene

The division bench of the Bombay High Court in its recent order while hearing the custodial death case of Akshay Shinde the prime accused in the Badlapur POCSO case observed that the crucial recreation of the scene of the incident is still pending and that the explanation provided for the delay appears flimsyProsecutionrsquos submissionA team of forensic experts and police officers check the police van in which the incident occurred PicsShadab KhanDuring the course of the hearing Dr Birendra Saraf advocate general tendered a report regarding the probe by the State CID from September 24 after the investigation was transferred to the State CID Navi Mumbai ldquoDr Saraf also placed on record a document which enlists questions raised by this court vide order dated October 3 and the reply to them He has also tendered before us the forensic expert report All the said documents are taken on recordrdquo the order readlsquoAppears to be flimsyrsquoldquoDuring the course of hearing it was brought to our notice that the inquiry is still pending It appears that the recreation of the scene of the incident is yet to be done The explanation offered for the delay ie for not doing the same till date appears to be flimsy Dr Saraf on instructions of Prashant Waghunde superintendent of police State CID Navi Mumbai seeks two weeksrsquo time to enable the police to submit all the documents to the learned magistrate conducting the inquiry under Sections 193 and 196 of the BNNS Statement accepted We find that unless all the documents are submitted by the police and as sought for by the magistrate are handed over to the magistrate the magistrate will not be in a position to complete his inquiry in timerdquo the order statedlsquoRequests went unheededrsquoldquoIn order to suppress the truth the government did not provide the required documents to the judicial magistrate who is conducting magisterial death inquiry of Shinde as per the provisions of Section 196 of BNSS We firmly believe that the government did not want to take any chance during election time and hence deliberately delayed the process of State CID investigations and in submission of documents to JMFC despite repeated requestsrdquo said Advocate Amit Katarnaware who represents the petitionerExpert SpeakldquoIt may not be possible to forensically reconstruct the crime scene as the incident happened in a moving vehicle and it is primafacie crucial to understand the speed of the vehicle the exact positioning of the policemen and the undertrial inside it the exact spot where the incident of shootout happenedrdquo said a forensic surgeon from Grant Medical CollegeForensic aspectB B Daundakar former director of state forensic science laboratory Kalina said ldquoAfter the shoot out it would have been advisable that the police stoppedparked their vehicle without moving its position and should have protected the crime scene for further forensic investigation at the crime spot itself Mumbra bypass The escorting police party could have immediately contacted the police control room informing them about the shootout and could have called in for emergency backup including an ambulance for shifting the injured to the nearest hospital this would have prevented the police from disturbing the crime scene which is very crucial for collection of maximum biologicalballistic evidence from the scene of crimerdquoWho is Akshay ShindeThe 23yearold was arrested in midAugust for allegedly sexually assaulting two fouryearold girls in the Badlapur school where he worked as an attendant He was killed in lsquoretaliatory actionrsquo on September 23 near Mumbra bypass after he allegedly snatched the gun of a policeman and fired shots while being escorted to Badlapur from Taloja jail as part of the probe into the case registered against him on the complaint of his former wife