AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi demands SC probe into SIMI activists' encounter

HYDERABAD: Alleging "discrepancies" in the official version on the escape of SIMI activists from a Bhopal jail and their killing in a subsequent encounter with police, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi today demanded an inquiry by Supreme Court to bring out "all facts". "There is huge discrepancy in what the Home Minister and the police officials are saying. The Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh says that these undertrials were armed with spoons. If they were armed with spoons, the Madhya Pradesh ATS could have easily overpowered them, because ATS has all sophistacated weapons. They could have easily arrested them. "But, people who have run away from prison after assassinating a guard and they only have spoons. So, to any normal person, this theory is unbelievable," he told reporters here. A probe by Supreme Court would bring out all the facts and any attempts to supress them, the Hyderabad MP said. "I feel that an inquiry by Supreme Court would unravel all the weaknesses and any steps which have been taken not to bring the whole facts out of it," he said. He wondered how those killed in the encounter were wearing wrist watches, shoes and belts as undertrials are not allowed to keep these things. The investigation would bring out facts with regard to how the men escaped from the high security jail, the encounter, and how come they were wearing wrist watches, Owaisi said. Contending that encounter killings would not help the cause of justice, he took exception to death of undertrials in judicial custody in any case.