8 Simi men killed after jailbreak, row erupts

The police tracked down and shot dead eight members of the banned Stude-nts Islamic Movement of India (Simi) on Bhopal’s outskirts on Monday, hours after they pulled off a daring pre-dawn escape from the city’s high-security prison.

The police said the eight killed a guard by slitting his throat with sharpened steel spoons, and used knotted bedsheets to scale a 32-ft-high wall at 2.30 am on Monday as Diwali fireworks filled the skies with thick smoke and drowned out most sounds. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan suspended five jail officials for lapses.

However, a string of unanswered questions, a post-operation video clip and conflicting versions about the alleged encounter immediately sparked a political controversy with Congress’ Digvijay Singh and other Opposition leaders questioning the government’s narrative.

The eight were awaiting trial in cases of alleged “terror-related activities, besides sedition and robbery”. This was the second such jailbreak in MP by Simi members in three years. Banned in 2001, the outfit is accused of carrying out bombings and of having links with terror groups.

While Mr Chouhan said the escapees were a threat to the nation, and state home minister Bhupendra Singh said the eight were plotting a terror attack, the Centre has asked the National Investigative Agency (NIA) to probe the incident. Union home minister Rajnath Singh has sought a detailed report.

Soon after the “encounter”, a video clip purportedly showing a jawan firing from a close range on a motionless Simi member went viral, sparking widespread outrage among human rights activists.

While Digvijay Singh said repeated jailbreaks suggest a larger conspiracy, his party colleague Kamal Nath said, “Now we can’t get any information as all of them died, there should be a judicial probe.”

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi demanded an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge. He said the entire incident was “very surprising” and “shocking”. “It was perplexing that those killed were fully clothed, wearing shoes, had watches and bands on wrists and belts on trousers,” he said.

Soon after the 30-munute “encounter” at Entikheda, 15 km from Bhopal, MP’s anti-terror squad (ATS) chief Sanjeev Sami said the escapees pelted stones when the police surrounded them, while the city’s inspector general (IG) of police Yogesh Choudhury said the eight opened fire when told to surrender. No official explained why the eight stuck together, and did not disperse to avoid detection. Other unanswered questions included if they only had sharpened spoons for weapons, why they were shot; and if they indeed fired on the police, from where they got arms. Those killed also wore sports shoes and jeans and not the usual prison attire, post-operation photographs showed.

The eight were identified as Mohd Akil Khilji, Meheboob Guddu, Mohd Khalid Ahmed, Mujib Sheikh, Amzad Khan, Zakir Hussein Sheikh, Mohd Salik and Abdul Majid.

Of them, Zakir, Mehboob, Amzad had earlier in October 2013 escaped from a Khandwa jail in MP in a similar manner. Altogether seven SIMI members had escaped then.