SC asks why SIMI activists encounter case not handed over to CBI

Eight SIMI under-trials had pulled off an audacious escape from the high-security Central Jail of Bhopal on the intervening night of October 30-31 last year after killing a guard.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to Centre and Madhya Pradesh government on the encounter of eight SIMI activists in Bhopal in 2016.The apex court asked both the governments why was the case not handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Eight SIMI under-trials had pulled off an audacious escape from the high-security Central Jail of Bhopal on the intervening night of October 30-31 last year after killing a guard. The police, however, had gunned them down in an alleged encounter on the outskirts of Bhopal within hours after they escaped from the prison after attacking the guards.

On November 7, 2016, the state government had appointed retired high court judge S K Pandey to probe the daring jailbreak by eight activists of the banned SIMI.

Initially, this single-member commission had been asked to complete the probe within three months and submit its report to the government.

Layer, the commission was given three extensions and the new deadline for it to finish the probe is November 6, 2017. Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya said the decision was taken by a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

(With agency inputs)