Chouhan orders judicial probe into jailbreak, 'encounter'

It will be conducted by retired High Court Judge Justice S K Pandey, an official release said.

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe into the jail break by eight SIMI activists from the Bhopal central prison, File Photo PTI

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a judicial probe into the jailbreak by eight Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists from Bhopal and their alleged encounter killings.

The probe will be conducted by retired High Court Judge Justice S K Pandey, an official release said.

“Justice Pandey will probe all aspects related to how SIMI activists escaped from the high security jail and the encounter that took place after that,” it said.

A PIL was was filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, demanding judicial probe into the incident.

The jailbreak took place in the intervening night of October 30-31 and the eight undertrials were killed by the police in an alleged encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31.

The SIMI activists escaped after killing head constable Ramashankar Yadav.

Since the ''encounter'' took place, conflicting versions from the police and the State Home Minister surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.

A controversy also raged over the police action, after 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.