Week on, Badlapur school sex abuse suspect buried in Ulhasnagar amid stir

THANE: The body of the Badlapur school sexual assault accused was taken from Kalwa hospital and buried in an Ulhasnagar crematorium amid heavy police security due to protests on Sunday.

Sources said vigilance at Kalwa hospital, where Akshay Shinde's body had been kept, was raised in the morning. The body was taken in an ambulance at 5.15pm. The sources said the process was overseen by a large police posse. They said some people tried to stop the ambulance on the way but were dispersed.

In Ulhasnagar, Shiv Sena and BJP workers, along with some locals, gathered at the crematorium at Shanti Nagar, around 10km from Badlapur, to protest against the burial. Thane police dispersed the crowd and detained some of the protesters, including Sena's Ulhasnagar city chief Rajendra Chaudhary and BJP's Ulhasnagar district president Pradeep Ramchandani.

The suspect's parents, brother, uncle and his third wife were present when the body was buried amid heavy police security.

"Based on high court's order and a request from Shinde's family, we buried his body in the crematorium," said Sanjay Jadhav, additional police commissioner, Thane.

Soon after a pit was dug up, Chaudhary reached the cremation ground with his supporters and covered it up. As the protest gathered momentum, two ACPs, Sunil Varade and Amol Koli, along with a police posse, took Chaudhary and some of his supporters into custody and dispersed the crowd. The earthmover operator was called back to dig the pit again even as a crowd gathered outside the crematorium gate. Police detained those creating a ruckus. Ramchandani and local leader Kapil Adsul were also seen protesting there. Police took them into custody and released them later.

Shinde was shot dead on Mumbra bypass road on Sept 23 after police took custody of him from Taloja jail. Police have said he was being taken to Thane crime branch office for questioning in a case filed by his first wife when he turned aggressive and snatched a weapon, resulting in a scuffle which led to the shooting. His family had first refused to accept his body, claiming that he had been shot dead at point-blank range and had moved Bombay HC. It had sought that Shinde's body be buried, and not cremated, so that it can be exhumed at a later date for investigation. Ordering a fair and impartial investigation into the matter, HC had last week subjected police to a tough line of questioning and wondered whether the firing could have been avoided.

The sexual assault case had put tremendous pressure on govt with the assembly elections around the corner. The crimes took place in the Badlapur school's toilet on Aug 12-13 and Shinde was arrested five days later. A massive protest followed the arrest, with Badlapur locals blocking the tracks on Aug 20, disrupting train services for over 10 hours. They demanded street justice by way of hanging him in public. Later, police resorted to a lathicharge to disperse the crowd. The protesters also vandalised the school.

HC had during several hearings expressed its displeasure over the probe, observing that police took over 11 hours to register the FIR and questioned them for not promptly making the school's top officials as accused as they had delayed reporting the crimes. The opposition had highlighted the case to say the law-and-order situation in the state had collapsed. It had even called for a statewide bandh, but it was called off after HC denied permission for it.


(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)