Badlapur Encounter: Bombay HC Says 'Difficult To Believe It Was Encounter,' Seeks CDR Of Officers

The high court has directed all the five officers who were present at the time of the encounter to submit their CDR records and has also directed preservation of CCTV footage.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday while hearing a petition filed by father of the deceased accused in the Badlapur minors' sexual assault case remarked that it was difficult to believe that it was an encounter. The father of the accused had moved the Bombay High Court alleging that his son was killed in a fake encounter on Monday.

The high court has directed all the five officers who were present at the time of the encounter to submit their Call Detail Record (CDR) and has directed preservation of CCTV footage from the time the accused stepped out of the jail to the time he was taken to hospital.

The high court bench posed several tough questions to the counsel appearing for the state. After hearing submissions from both sides, the high court bench remarked that this is hard to believe it happened like this.

"Prima facie this cannot be trusted. A layman cannot fire a pistol unlike a revolver which any tom, dick and harry can do. A weak man cannot load the pistol as it needs strength," the bench remarked.

The bench further remarked, "how can we believe that four officers present in the vehicle couldn't overpower a single man?"

The father has sought a direction from the court to order a probe in the alleged murder, registration of FIR against the erring officers and to preserve the CCTV footage of Taloja prison and the vicinity near the spot where the incident took place.  

The father of the accused Akshay Shinde told the court that on the date of incident, he interacted with him and was asking when he will get bail. He told the court that Shinde was not in a mental state to commit anything as claimed by the police that he snatched the pistol and shot at the officers. 

"My client had met his son just a few hours before his fake encounter. His mannerisms did not indicate any intent to escape. He in fact asked the parents for giving him some Rs 500, so that he can avail canteen services. He was not in a state to escape or had any physical capacity to snatch the pistol from an officer. My client's say that his son is killed in view of the forthcoming elections," counsel appearing for the father of the accused told the court.

He further told the court that law mandates that whenever there is an encounter which is alleged to be fake, an FIR needs to be registered. We do have an alternate remedy to approach JMFC for registering an FIR but that court will not have extraordinary powers like this court to order an SIT probe.

The high court has sought a postmortem report and other related documents in a sealed cover. The matter will be taken up again next Thursday.