Bhopal: The entire drama of encounter killings of 8 SIMI under-trials appears to be a fake, dubious and stage managed, said SDPI General Secretary Elyas Muhammad Thumbe, while addressing a press conference at Bhopal on 03 November at Bhopal Press Club.
While terming the encounter as stage-managed, ElyasThumbe said, the entire episode was very tragic, astonishing and has created terror and insecurity in the minds of common people. He charged the high level police officials of their complicity in the dubious encounter which took the invaluable lives of 9 people. He further said, the questions raised in the minds of civil society are unanswered and reasonably proclaiming as the incidents are nothing but a drama with vicious intentions.
The panel furnished some significant questions being raised from all quarters which reasonably proclaim the incident as an unreal drama managed withvicious intentions:
1. How 8 SIMI jail inmates were able to break through the three layered security ring of the Bhopal Central Jail which considered to be a breach proof ISO certified prison. The jail is guarded by abundant police personnel and how can these SIMI under-trials escaped with such impunity in quick time of about 20 minutes that none of the guards on duty were able to see.
2. The fact that Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh and STF Chief Sanjeev Shami said that the SIMI operatives did not have firearms while IGP of Bhopal YogeshChowdhary claimed these under trials fired on police.
3. How can the jail guarding police personnel unnoticed the incident of killing of a high secured police colleague and even not heard the screaming during murder. If noticed the incident, why the culprits were scot-free in the jail itself.
4. How did they scale 32 feet height barbed wall of jail using bed sheets which is physically impossible. In the jail only blanket is supplied to the inmate. How these 8 inmates got the 32 bed sheets (not blankets) to make it as a rope to climb the wall. There are two other walls outside of the main wall which are of the height of 20 feet and 5 feet. It’s a mockery that those jail breakers have climbed the two heightened walls but couldn’t climbe the outside compound of 5 feet but to break the strong metal locked gate. It’s surprising that, while smashing the metal gate how the police personnel couldn’t hear the sound and see the breaking.
5. How and where did they procure those alleged weapons as they were gunned down within 10 KM of jail in 10 hours of escaping?
6. If they could procure weapons, why did not they procure a vehicle to make quick escape? Why did they move towards open space where they couldn’t hide?
7. Why no other jail inmates escape when these operatives left a wide trail and open doors behind them?
8. How did these operatives have access to branded clothes, sports shoes, wrist watches and bands that they sported when killed?
9. Why the hundreds of CC Cameras were not working in the jail?
10. How can the locks of jail gates can be opened by a key made up of wooden stick or tooth brush handle? How the inmates can open the lock of jail gates inside the cell, which can open only at the outside.
11. Though the jail breakers have not fired at the police why they have been killed. They can be easily caught and the whole episode could have been investigated.
12. Why the police didn’t shoot them below their waist instead of their chest and head in a close distant.
13. While civil society’s claim with concrete evidence that this was a cold blooded mass killing by the police why the CM has announced monetary gift to the intruders.
14. Though the operatives did not possess weapons, the police defending themselves of the killing of those unarmed operatives. How can the police claim that they can kill even though the operatives possess no arms?
Party leader Mohammed Shafi said, encounter is no way acceptable. Aftermath the incident, we see from the various sources and records furnished by witnesses that the under-trials could have been arrested without even injuring them anyway, but the police choosing to murder them in cold-blood demonstrates larger conspiracy. Still there are numerous questions which arise leading to the conclusion that the entire episode of killing the under-trials was viciously planned, he said.
The party leaders came up with a list of demands:
1. A sitting judge of Supreme Court should investigate the incident within a short time.
2. The entire responsible police and jail officers connected to Bhopal jail should be suspended immediately and all the police personnel in Bhopal jail should be transferred because of chances of tampering the evidences.
3. Immediate arrest of the police involved in the killing of unarmed operatives violating all norms regulated by the Supreme Court.
4. Allow the Human Rights Organizations, Fact finding teams, counsels and relatives of the deceased to meet the other inmates of the jail to know the facts.
5. Immediate resignation of Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh who is responsible for this barbaric and anarchic incident.
The press meet was participated by SDPI MP State President, Adv. Sajid Siddiqui, National General Secretaries Mohammad Shafi, Elyas Muhammad Thumbe and State General Secretary Salim Ansari.
