The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday demanded a judicial investigation into the killing of eight SIMI activists in Bhopal.
At this, the BJP questioned the Congress’s motives, accusing it of supporting SIMI terrorists and seeking to politicise the incident. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation.
“I am demanding a judicial probe because even the government must know under what circumstances they escaped,” senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, a Lok Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, said. “People of the State and the country must know how terrorists with such a record were able to escape from such a high-security jail and within hours were caught and shot dead.”
His party colleague Manish Tewari, however, said he would hold his comments on the issue till more details are received: “It is an evolving situation. Let the police come out with further details as to what happened,” he said.
CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat described the official version of the incident as “highly dubious and suspicious,” as the versions provided by the State government and the police were “contradictory.”
“For the truth to come out, there should be an independent enquiry by a High Court judge in a time-bound manner,” Ms. Karat told The Hindu . “They were not convicts but undertrial prisoners. So labelling them is not correct,” she said.
The BJP defended the police action, with spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao lauding the police action, and accusing the Congress of batting for terrorists belonging to the SIMI the way it had done for the LeT in the past. “In any country, a highly successful operation by the police would have been praised,” Mr. Rao said“But you have the usual political suspects in India’s political firmament who want to somehow attack the morale of the armed forces.”
