‘71 jail guards were on VIP duty’

Of the 160 guards recruited for the security of Bhopal’s “high security”central jail, from where eight undertrial terror suspects escaped and were later killed in an alleged encounter on Monday, 71 were on VIP duty serving ministers and bureaucrats, a police probe has found.

One of the guards was also serving Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s office, the criminal investigation department (CID) probe found.

“It is true that some sentries who should guard the jail have been deployed for other purposes. But I think the number of sentries shown as being used by ministers, former ministers and government officers is exaggerated”, state jail minister Kusum Mehadale told reporters.

According to records, those who used jail sentries include the jail minister herself, minister Antar Singh Arya and former jail minister Jagdish Devda, besides government officers.

Bhopal’s CID has blamed the “daring, pre-dawn” jailbreak by the suspected members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) on security lapses.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which sought a report on the “encounter”, has also asked the state government to produce records of prison guards, officials said on Friday even as CCTV footage, purportedly showing the eight and other undertrials moving freely outside their barracks with no security guards in sight, went viral on social media.

The police had said on Monday that it tracked down and shot dead the eight, hours after they allegedly escaped from the “high-security” prison.

The CID’s findings come as calls from the families of those dead, Opposition parties and human rights bodies for an independent probe continue to mount, given India’s dodgy record of extra-judicial killings.

Several audio and video clips, purportedly of the “encounter”, have surfaced, fuelling suspicion that the eight men were shot in cold blood. A string of unanswered questions and conflicting versions of officials involved in the “encounter” have also bolster allegations that cops were keen to kill, and not capture alive, the eight men.

Bhopal’s inspector general (IG) of police Yogesh Choudhury had said the eight opened fire when asked to surrender. However, Madhya Pradesh’s anti-terror squad (ATS) chief Sanjeev Shami said those killed did not have firearms.

No official explained why the eight stuck together, and did not disperse to avoid detection. Those killed also wore sports shoes and jeans and not the usual prison attire, post-operation photographs showed.

The eight were awaiting trial in cases of alleged “terror-related activities, besides sedition and robbery”. Banned in 2001, Simi is accused of carrying out bombings and of having links with terror groups.