Bhopal SIMI men encounter leaves behind eight bodies, several questions

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh police on Monday claimed to have killed eight escaped operatives of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) within hours of a pre-dawn jailbreak but failed to explain several aspects of the surprisingly fast and smooth operation.

Bodies are seen at what police described as the encounter site in Eintkhedi, located on a tableland. “Why did they (the eight suspects) move into an open space where they could not hide?” local Congress politician Arif Masood wondered. The eight terror undertrials had broken out of Bhopal Central Jail between 2am and 3am, slit the neck of elderly guard Rama Shankar and taken another guard hostage, the police said. They were killed 10km away in Eintkhedi village, on Bhopal's fringes, around 9am after a gunfight.

Several Congress politicians and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi questioned the ease of the jailbreak and the circumstances leading to the "encounter", triggering a verbal joust with BJP spokespersons.

But even a BJP parliamentarian, former Union home secretary R.K. Singh, wondered "how can weapons reach them immediately after the jailbreak" although he blamed it on "local complicity" and congratulated the police. Conversations with Union home ministry officials, police veterans and Opposition politicians threw up a slew of questions, such as: • Where did the Simi operatives get the jeans, T-shirts, shoes, watches and belts they were wearing when they died? Owaisi, MP from Hyderabad, asked this in a tweet. He demanded an inquiry by the Supreme Court. Jail inmates wear white kurta-pyjamas with black stripes. • How did the eight procure guns so soon after the jailbreak? Four country-made guns and some sharp-edged weapons were found on the slain militants, Bhopal inspector-general of police Yogesh Choudhary told reporters. "Asked to surrender, they opened fire from a high place, forcing the police to retaliate. There was heavy firing from the other side and they were killed in retaliatory fire. Police opened 45-46 rounds of fire," Choudhary, who was part of the operation, said. • Why did state home minister Bhupendra Singh not mention the suspects carrying guns? Bhupendra told reporters from hometown Sagar that the escaped prisoners were armed with sharp-edged metal spoons and plates. "They attacked the police and injured them. The police had no choice but to kill them. They were dreaded terrorists," he said.

Rama Shankar, the head constable who was killed

Choudhary too spoke of a scuffle, saying: "Three policemen received injuries from sharp weapons."

It wasn't clear from his version when the scuffle had happened. • Why were most of the eight hit in the head and chest? A senior IPS officer said that during encounters, criminals usually start running helter-skelter once the police begin firing. They get hit in various parts of the body, especially the back and the legs. "But most of the eight Simi men have bullet wounds on their chest or the forehead, suggesting they were shot at close range after being secured. The police should have captured them alive," the officer said. Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh demanded an inquiry, tweeting: "Did they flee from the jail or (were they) made to flee according to some well-planned strategy?" BJP spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh retorted that Digvijaya "loves siding with terrorists" and recalled that the Congress veteran had in the past suggested the 2008 Batla House gun battle in Delhi was a fake encounter. • Why such hurry for an encounter? Union home ministry sources said the police should have cordoned the area off, asked the suspects to surrender and waited an hour. "It seems the police were in a hurry," an official said. He said that according to the state police's preliminary report to the home ministry, none of the cops suffered any major injury that could have justified such a response. "Even the spot where the firings reportedly happened seem to show no signs of any struggle or battle," the official said. • If the suspects could procure guns, why not a getaway vehicle? Why did they go to a place without hiding spots or escape routes? Eintkhedi is located on a tableland with rocky edges that flank a deep gorge, which cuts off any possible escape. "Why did they move into an open space where they could not hide?" local Congress politician Arif Masood wondered. • Why were all eight at the same spot? "Escaped prisoners generally disperse in various directions to minimise the chances of recapture," a home ministry official said.

"This sort of thing (all being found together) usually happens during staged killings. It's strange the police tracked them down so fast...." According to the police, all eight Simi men had previously been part of a larger jailbreak from the Khandwa prison in Madhya Pradesh in 2013. They had later been rearrested from different places at different times, sources said. • Why did they not flee at the first hint of trouble? Choudhary said the Simi men had been "confronted by a few villagers" and responded by "throwing stones". "The villagers mistook them for robbers and alerted the police," he said, without elaborating how long the accused had waited at the spot for the police to arrive. • How did they escape from jail so easily? The police say the prisoners used bed sheets and a makeshift ladder, contrived out of pieces of wood, to scale the prison's 32ft-high walls. "Scaling those high walls using bed sheets is practically impossible," Congress politician Masood argued. Union home ministry officials wondered why the cops manning the CCTV cameras or watchtowers at the jail did not raise the alarm, and the live wires above the jail walls did not have an impact. • How did the jailbreak happen amid a high alert? Choudhary said the jailbreak had been carefully planned for Diwali night, when the noise of crackers and the smoke-filled skies would provide cover. But police and intelligence sources say the state had been on "high alert" following tip-offs about militants pulling off "something spectacular". State officials said there was intelligence about a possible jailbreak, so much so that officers responsible for jail security were recently excused from coming to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's six-monthly police meeting. Sources in Delhi, however, said many of the jail officials had been granted Diwali leave and the prison administration had ignored an alert from the Centre to heighten security ahead of the festivities.

A poster seeking information on the eight Simi members being pasted at the railway station in Bhopal on Monday before it was announced that the undertrials had been shot dead. (PTI picture)

Complicating the plot, two unauthenticated videos - apparently from the alleged encounter - have surfaced on the social media and have been telecast by some TV channels. One shows three or four apparently dead and bloodied men lying on a flat, rocky area. A policeman pulls out a plastic-wrapped knife that had been tucked into one of the dead men's waist, and then puts it back there again. Another cop is seen shooting one of the dead suspects at close range. The other video shows four to five men - purportedly the Simi activists - standing on a rock and waving at the policemen while a voice barks an order to "surround them". Asked about the videos, Choudhary said: "We have to look at the video and into its veracity." To all the other questions, his stock reply was that a probe would establish the truth. Chouhan, who briefed Union home minister Rajnath Singh over the phone, has requested the case be handed over to the National Investigation Agency. The state government has suspended five jail officials for the jailbreak. "The state should immediately institute an independent judicial inquiry into the jailbreak and the killings. The inquiry should consider whether the police acted professionally," Prakash Singh, former Uttar Pradesh police chief, said. Simi, accused of several terror attacks and links with Pakistan-based groups, was banned in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. -The Telegraph Calcutta