Congress seeks court-monitored investigation

Wants a Judicial Commission to head probe into the killing of Bhopal jail escapees

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh demanded a “court monitored” investigation into the shooting of eight inmates said to be activists of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), after they escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail.

Addressing a press conference at the A.P. Congress Committee headquarters here, Mr. Singh also demanded a probe by a duly constituted Judicial Commission into frequent jail breaks by “only SIMI activists”, and the failures of the jail authorities that resulted in the escape of eight SIMI activists.

Mr. Singh said that he did not think much of the demands to handover the inquiry to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The Union Home Minister should explain on what grounds the NIA Director General was given two extensions, he said.

Mr. Singh said that he was the first Chief Minister to recommend the banning of SIMI and the Bajrang Dal in 2011, but the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre had banned only SIMI. Five SIMI activists escaped from the Khandwa Jail in 2013 and the Bhopal Jail was developed into a high security prison of ISO standards in 2014, while he was the chief minister, he added.

Meanwhile, the Left parties pointed out “discrepancies” in the statements made by the government and State police. They sought a judicial probe, contending that a National Investigation Agency inquiry will neither be “credible nor acceptable”.

(

With PTI inputs )