BHOPAL, Oct 31:
Eight SIMI activists were today killed in an alleged encounter with police on the outskirts of the city hours after they escaped from the high-security Bhopal Central Jail killing a security guard but questions cropped up over the encounter.
As a controversy raged over the police action after the daring pre-dawn jail-break, TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.
The activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India(SIMI), two of whom were involved in a similar jail- break in Khandwa three years ago, managed to escape around 2-3 AM after killing a jail security guard by scaling the prison wall with the help of bed sheets, DIG Bhopal Raman Singh said.
Acting on the leads provided by locals, the undertrials were tracked down to Malikheda where they were encircled and killed when they tried to challenge the police, a police official said.
All the eight activists were killed by Bhopal Police at Malikheda on the city outskirts, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said.
The eight activists were identified as Amzad, Zakir Hussain Sadiq, Mohammad Salik, Mujeeb Shaikh, Mehbood Guddu, Mohammad Kalid Ahmed, Aqeel and Majid, a police official said.
The National Investigation Agency(NIA) will probe the jail-break even as contradictions surfaced on the encounter. The Jail Superintendent was among four officials suspended by the Madhya Pradesh Government.
IG Yogesh Choudhary said the fleeing SIMI activists had weapons in their possession and opened fire when confronted and the police fired in retaliation, in comments that appeared to contradict the Home Minister’s statement.
Bhupendra Singh said the undertrials used spoons and plates they carried from the prison as weapons to attack the security personnel. Asked for his comments on the TV footage that appeared to contradcit encounter theory, he maintained that it was an encounter and police had no option but to eliminate them.
At a brief media interaction, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the jail-break would be probed by the NIA but parried a question on the encounter. He said the State Government will also carry out a separate investigation into the matter.
Soon after the incident, the State Government released the sketches of the eight activists and suspended four officials including Jail Superintendent Akhilesh Tomar. The government also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh each on the heads of the activists.
“We have taken a decision to suspend MP Prison Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Bhopal Central Jail Superintendent, Deputy Jail Superintendent and Assistant Jail Superintendent,” Chouhan added.
Holding that the statements of the IG and the Home Minister were contradictory, opposition Congress demanded a judicial probe into the encounter.
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi demanded a Supreme Court- monitored probe and raised questions on the encounter.
Owaisi said a probe by NIA is not enough, as it would be in the interest of justice that an Apex Court-monitored probe is ordered. He also doubted NIA’s credibility because of the way it had “behaved” in the Malegaon blasts case.
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath said, “SIMI activists have escaped from the jail which is a high security prison, and within few hours they have not only been traced but killed. Now they can’t be questioned, there is no evidence, their statements cannot be recorded.
“I am demanding a judicial probe because even the Government must know under what circumstances they escaped.”
Congress leader Digvijay Singh, a former Chief Minister of MP, also demanded a probe.
Siddharth Nath Singh, a BJP leader, however, said Digvijay Singh should rather pat the Madhya Pradesh police for the encounter and the gunning down of the terrorists.
This is the second major jail-break by operatives of SIMI in three years after the sensational escape by seven members of the group from a jail in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh in 2013.
The Union Home Ministry has sought a detailed report from the State Government on the jail-break and whether there was any lapse on the part of the jail administration and the steps taken to check such incidents.
The Central Security Agencies were particularly anxious as four of the seven SIMI activists, who escaped from a jail in Khandwa on October 1, 2013, could be arrested only after three years and during the period of their hiding, they were involved in multiple incidents of terror and a bank robbery.
While in hiding, the SIMI men were allegedly involved in terror activities in several States including Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
SIMI was banned by the Government in 2001. (PTI)
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