A day after the key accused in the sensational Badlapur child sexual assault case Akshay Shinde was shot dead in an “encounter” by an escorting police team, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) rooted for a court-monitored investigation or an inquiry by a retired high court judge into the questionable circumstances leading to the death of the accused.

Shell shocked by the manner in which 23-year-old Shinde came to be shot dead in a “retaliatory firing” by a policeman while he was taken from Badlapur to Thane in a van for investigation in another case on Monday evening,  his parents Anna and Alka alleged there was a conspiracy behind the death of their son.

“This is a contract killing by the police. How can there be an encounter inside a police van?. The government must take strong action against the perpetrators who killed our son,” Alka Shinde asked.

The death of the Badlapur nursery school sexual assault accused has, meanwhile, snowballed into a political controversy with the leaders of the entire Opposition MVA, including NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, his party leaders Aaditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, State Congress President Nana Patole and leaders of three constituent parties questioning the version put out by the police and the Maharashtra government on the circumstances leading to the “encounter death” of Akshay Shinde.

The MVA leaders demanded an “impartial” investigation by a retired or sitting high court judge into the death or a court-monitored probe or a CBI probe into the “suspicious” circumstances in which the accused in which the key accused in Badlapur sexual assault case came to be killed.

Meanwhile, the State state Crime Investigation Department (CID) has taken over the probe into the ‘encounter killing’ of Akshay Shinde.

Pawar questioned the laxity and lack of precautions on the part of the State home department in transporting the main accused in such a sensitive case in which two minor girls were allegedly abused in a Badlapur kindergarten school.  “It seems the government has become weak….The government should such steps that would deter miscreants in indulging in such a reprehensible act”

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole demanded to know “if the encounter with the accused was done by the police as part of a high-level effort to suppress the whole matter?”  “An inquiry should be conducted through the present judges of the High Court to reveal the truth of this matter,” he said.

 It may be recalled that two nursery girls – aged four and six years --  were sexually abused allegedly by sweeper Shinde when they in the washroom of the kindergarten school run by Adarsh Vidya Prasarak Sanstha (AVPS) on August 13 for using the toilet there. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Thane police that investigated the case has  filed a charge-sheet in the case before the special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court in Kalyan.

Wondering as to where did the 23-year-old sweeper learn how to use a firearm, Sanjay Raut said: “We have been told that Akshay Shinde fired at the police? When the police escort him, his hands are supposed to tied and his face covered. So, what precisely happened?

Who are Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister  Devendra Fadnavis trying to protect? Maharashtra must know the truth”.

Demanding to know as to why the trustees of the school where the incident took place had not been arrested yet, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray asked, “Why are the trustees of the school being protected by the BJP-Shinde regime? Will the cases against the citizens who protested be taken back? They were treated like gangsters.  They simply were protesting against the refusal of the police to file a complaint from the victim for a week? Who are the police protecting?”

Dubbing the encounter drama as “a story written, sponsored and executed by the state government”,  Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaurvedi said: “The accused is dead. The other co-accused who were school Trustees and BJP workers are on the run. Such a textbook case of shoot-and-scoot tactics applied an incompetent government. Coming soon: Nobody sexually assaulted the minor girls, a story written, sponsored and executed by the state government”

Rubbishing the police version,. NCP (SP) MLA Dr Jitendra Awhad asked: “How can a handcuffed accused snatch the revolver of a policeman and fire at him when five more policemen are around?,” he said.