SIMI terrorists killed: Why Bhopal encounter makes one reminisce ‘Operation Batla House’

There are several questions on the Bhopal encounter which are yet to be answered. One of the most important questions is - how did the SIMI operatives get arms after escaping from the jail?

Bhopal, Oct 31: Encounter killings in India often get surrounded by controversies or politicised. Hours after Madhya Pradesh Police gunned down eight terrorists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who escaped from Bhopal Central Jail earlier today, politicians have started raising doubts over the encounter. Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and Aam Aadmi Party MLA Alka Lamba questioned the manner in which the encounter was carried out in Bhopal. Similar reactions came in after Batla House encounter that took place in Jamia Nagar, Delhi in 2008.

Bhopal encounter: Eight activists of the banned SIMI escaped early Monday from the Bhopal Central Jail by killing a security guard and scaling the prison wall with the help of bed sheets. SIMI terrorists killed the guard by slitting his throat with steel plate and glass after overpowering him and used bedsheets to climb up the jail wall. Few hours later, all the eight SIMI terrorists were killed by Bhopal Police at Malikheda on the city outskirts. The SIMI convicts were identified as – Amzad, Zakir Hussain Sadiq, Mohammad Salik, Mujeeb Shaikh, Mehbood Guddu, Mohammad Kalid Ahmed, Aqeel and Majid. (ALSO READ: 5 controversial police encounters)

How Bhopal Police tracked down SIMI terrorists: Hours after eight SIMI terrorists fled from the Bhopal Central Jail, Madhya Pradesh government released the sketch of the escapees and announced reward of Rs 5 lakh each on the heads of the SIMI activists. The Bhopal Police then received inputs from locals about the location of the SIMI members. The cops tracked them down to Malikheda, where they were encircled and killed when they tried to challenge the police.

We located the 8 inmates,they fired on us, and all of them were killed in cross firing: Yogesh Chaudhary,IG Bhopal on SIMI terrorists pic.twitter.com/ZylPR4qYXz

— ANI (@ANI_news) October 31, 2016

Oppositions’ doubts: Commenting on the second major jailbreak incident in Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said the repeated instance of prisoners escaping from jail across the country suggested a larger ‘conspiracy’. “It is a serious issue. First SIMI activists fled the Khandwa Jail. Now they have fled from Bhopal jail. I have been reiterating that RSS activists and other similar organisations are behind the anti-Muslim riots in the country. It should be probed whether there is someone behind this or not,” said Singh. “Were terrorists made to escape?” Singh asked.

Congress MP, however lauded Madhya Pradesh Police for killing terrorists in few hours, said it should be probed that how terrorists are managing to escape from jails of MP again and again. Questioning the encounter, AAP MLA Alka Lamba asked how could all the eight suspects be killed at the same spot. CPI MP Brinda Karat also raised doubts and said the encounter is questionable. “The versions of Government and Bhopal Police is highly dubious, suspicious and full of self-contradictions,” said Karat. 

Unanswered questions: There are several questions on the Bhopal encounter which are yet to be answered. One of the most important questions is – how did the SIMI operatives get arms after escaping from the jail? Another big question is – Why did all eight terrorists stick together after escaping from jail? Why didn’t they disperse to avoid detection? Bhopal Police said they received important leads from locals about the location of the SIMI terrorists, however television visuals show a deserted place as the ‘encounter site’.

8 SIMI terrorists who fled from Bhopal Jail killed in an encounter on Bhopal outskirts (ANI Exclusive pic) pic.twitter.com/UfEBUM2tDw

— ANI (@ANI_news) October 31, 2016

Speaking with India Today news channel, former DGP of Uttar Pradesh Vikram Singh feared that politicization of the Bhopal encounter would take it to the way of Batla House encounter when serious doubts were raised over the encounter killing. Singh said that people should believe what the police department says. Encounter killings have been under scanner as the country has witnessed many controversial encounters and some of them later proved fake too.