Terrorists of SIMI escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail killing a guard with a knife.
Highlights
- Terrorists killed a head constable by slitting his throat with a knife.
- Then they used blankets to climb the boundary walls.
- 3 years ago, 7 prisoners, also from SIMI, engineered a similar jailbreak
Eight members of the banned group Students' Islamic Movement of India or SIMI were killed on Monday hours after they escaped from a high security prison in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal after slitting the throat of a guard using a sharp weapon made from steel plates.
Here are 10 developments in the story:
The National Investigation Agency or NIA, which handles terror cases, will investigate the jailbreak, Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan told reporters as questions were raised about the encounter.
After escaping from the Bhopal Central Jail on the outskirts of the state capital, the fugitives had managed to walk around 15 km on foot before they were hunted down. They had guns, said the police. "They were armed and there was crossfire," said senior Bhopal police officer Yogesh Choudhary.
Described by the government as hardcore criminals, the eight men escaped between midnight and 2 am on Sunday. They tied up one guard and allegedly killed a head constable, Rama Shankar, using sharpened pieces of steel plates and spoons. Then they tied together bed sheets to climb several walls around the jail.
The breakout was planned on Diwali night, when fireworks fill the skies with thick smoke and drown out most sounds. This morning, the police claimed they received information from local people that the fugitives were hiding in a village 8 km from Bhopal.
The state's Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said the prisoners attacked the police and injured them. "The police had no choice but to kill them. They were dreaded terrorists," Mr Singh told NDTV. He later clarified that he only meant the prisoners used utensils inside the prison.
The prisoners were facing trial for terror incidents, sedition and robbery.
Three of the terror suspects had recently been caught after they escaped in an identical jailbreak in Khandwa, around 280 km from Bhopal. They were allegedly involved in several incidents of terror and bank robbery while they were on the run.
As videos emerged of a policeman shooting an inert body and of cops saying "surround them" at a group of men that appeared to wave at them, opposition parties demanded an investigation.
Many jail officials including the superintendent and three security personnel have been suspended. The Bhopal Central Jail is among the most secure in the state and has round-the-clock electronic surveillance system.
SIMI, accused of carrying out several attacks and having links with Pakistan-based terror groups, was banned in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks.
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