The Madhya Pradesh government is not inclined to order an inquiry to determine whether the killing of eight SIMI undertrial prisoners on the outskirts of Bhopal is genuine or not, State Home Minister Bhoopendra Singh Thakur said on Monday.
Mr. Thakur told The Hindu that all the eight SIMI operatives, three of whom escaped in 2013 from the Khandwa jail, shared the same cell. Their escape from jail was similar to the Khandwa jailbreak.
Madhya Pradesh Director-General of Police Rishi Kumar Shukla told The Hindu that after the jailbreak, the eight walked to Manikheda Pathar close to Eintkhedi village on the outskirts of Bhopal, where they were spotted and killed in an encounter.
“The place where the encounter took place is 11-12 kilometres from the prison. The prisoners reached there on foot,” said Mr. Shukla.
Several Opposition parties raised questions on the veracity of the encounter after two mobile phone videos started doing the rounds where a policeman is seen shooting an injured prisoner at point blank range and in the other, five men are seen standing on a hillock and waving at the police party.
When asked how the prisoners were clad in sweatshirts, jackets and wearing wrist watches when they had escaped from prison, Mr. Thakur said, “Since all of them were undertrial prisoners they are allowed to wear what they want. Only convicts have uniforms.”
Mr. Thakur evaded the question on whether the escaped prisoners were given an option to surrender by the police when cornered at a deserted place near a village on the outskirts of Bhopal.
“Police will give out the necessary facts. NIA will investigate the jailbreak,” Mr. Thakur said.
The prison escape took place between 12-3 am on Monday and the police administration got the information only at 4.30 am. “A high alert was sounded and a security ring was thrown around the places where they were seen by public persons. A mall at a security guard told the police that he saw the eight men running towards the forest area. Three-four villagers also corroborated this and the area was cordoned off,” said Mr. Thakur.
The eight prisoners were lodged in the same cell. They attacked the prison security guard Head Constable with a knife made of a steel plate. “They had used the same modus operandi during the jailbreak from Khandwa in 2013 as well. After they slit the throat of the guard, they dragged him inside, pulled out the keys from his pocket and opened the cell. They then moved towards the periphery wall where some wooden logs were kept. They put together a staircase out of wood and bed sheets and escaped after scaling the wall,” said Mr. Thakur.
On being asked why the eight men were together after their escape and when they know that police would be on hot pursuit, Mr. Thakur said, “they couldn’t find the opportunity to split, were cornered continuously as the police was swift to react. The encounter took place when they were on way to the forest area.” Mr. Thakur also said that there was laxity on part of the jail officials and because of Diwali, the presence of jail staff could have been thin.
