BHOPAL: The audacious jailbreak by the 8 activists of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) lodged in the Bhopal Central Prison in the early hours of Monday has left the Madhya Pradesh government and state police on tenterhooks.
The eight convicts have been identified as Mujib Sheikh, Majid, Aqueel, Khalid, Zakir, Mehboob Sheikh, Amjad, and Md Shaleek. Four of the SIMI operatives who escaped were those who had been arrested from Rourkela, Odisha in February.
SK Mehboob , Zakir Hussain, MD Saliq and MD Ahmad Khan were arrested on February 17, 2016 from a house in Rourkela.
They had escaped from Khandwa Jail in MP in 2013. They were among eight SIMI activists who killed a guard and injured another before fleeing from the Bhopal Central Jail at 2 am on Monday morning.
The escapees used bed sheets as a rope to scale the high prison wall.
Madhya Pradesh State Home Minister Bhupendra Singh while speaking to the media held the jail administration responsible. He further said that five prison officials have been suspended and a probe has been ordered into the incident.
Sanjay Choudhary, DG of Bhopal Central Jail said that the Additional Director General Jail has been directed to look into the security lapses. Security has now been intensified for other prisoners, he further added.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state home minister and asked for a detailed report on SIMI terrorists’ fleeing.
Following the jailbreak, a high alert has been sounded on Monday in Bhopal.