The Opposition parties in Maharashtra have criticised the state government after a man accused of having sexually abused two minor girls at a school in Badlapur died on Monday in an exchange of fire with the police.

The Congress alleged that the death of the accused was an attempt to protect other individuals in the case. The party’s state chief Nana Patole said that the trustees of the school had not yet been arrested.

“Is there an attempt to save the absconding accused or to wrap up the case by encountering the main accused?” Patole asked on social media. “Has the police encountered the accused as a part of a senior level effort to suppress the entire issue? This matter should be investigated by a sitting judge of the Bombay High Court to reveal the truth.”

The police have alleged that the accused, Akshay Shinde, snatched a police weapon and fired at security personnel, injuring a police officer. The accused was shot in retaliatory firing and taken to a hospital where he died, according to the police.

The incident took place when the accused was being taken to Thane in connection with a separate case of sexual assault filed by his second wife in 2022, The Indian Express quoted an unidentified senior police officer as saying.

Akshay Shinde allegedly sexually abused the minor girls on August 12 at their school, where he worked as a janitor. Four days later, one of the children reported the incident to her parents who approached the police.

The case sparked protests in Badlapur, with the Opposition accusing the police of delay in filing a first information report. Akshay Shinde was arrested on August 17 and booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

However, after he died in police custody, the Opposition has alleged that the state government has bypassed the due process of law.

Sharad Pawar, the chief of Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), said that the Mahayuti government had failed to hold the law as a deterrent against such crimes.

The Mahayuti coalition comprises the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party group.

“To ensure justice to the two small girls in the Badlapur case, the accused should have been executed as per the proper framework of law,” Sharad Pawar said on social media. “But the laxity shown by the home department while transferring the accused is suspicious. The truth of this incident should come out after a thorough probe.”

Supriya Sule, a leader of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party faction, also questioned the circumstances in which the accused had died.

“Delay in the filing of first information report first, and now the prime accused is killed in custody!” Sule said in a social media post. “This is an absolute breakdown of law enforcement and justice system. This is inexcusable, it deprives the people of Maharashtra of justice.”

Sushma Andhare, the spokesperson of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, questioned how an accused who had been handcuffed could snatch a revolver, The Hindu reported.

“One must also think of the Hyderabad rape case and the encounter thereafter,” Andhare said. “The same justification of self-protection has been used here as well.”

Andhare said that while the accused was “not a Mahatma” and should have “certainly been hanged”, the punishment should have been as per the law.

“The process of law was followed for the country’s enemy [Ajmal] Kasab as well,” she said. “Then the same process should have been used for Akshay Shinde too. It is likely that certain key information and evidence has been buried with Akshay Shinde now.”

Kasab was one of the terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis dismissed the criticism, claiming that the preliminary reports had suggested that the police had fired at the accused in defence, only in response.

“This was the same Opposition which had sought that a cruel accused like him should be hanged,” Eknath Shinde said. “Someone did such a terrible act to the little girls. How can the Opposition take the side of such an accused?”

The chief minister reiterated that the accused had opened fire on the police personnel and had seriously injured an assistant police inspector.