SIMI encounter: Forced to make false confessions, allege kin of dead men
The relatives claimed they had been 'blindfolded and handcuffed' by the police and then forced to make confessions.
Bhopal: Relatives of two of the SIMI terror accused, killed in an alleged encounter in Bhopal on Monday, have claimed that hours before the encounter they were “blindfolded and handcuffed” and taken to an undisclosed location near Indore. The relatives allege they were then forced to make false confessions.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Mohammed Jaleel, 22, son of Akeel Khilji, one of the deceased, claimed that “plain-clothed men” came to their house around 4.30 am on Monday and asked him to join them. He claimed he was not told about the jailbreak, or why he was being detained.
Jaleel alleged that he was detained for 10 hours. “Only at 10:30 pm, I was informed of my father’s killing,” he was quoted as saying.
According to Jaleel, he was repeatedly questioned about some ‘code words’ he has spoken to his father in jail. But Jaleel denied using the code language.
Mehmood Feroze, 28, a scrap dealer and brother-in-law of another deceased, Amjad Khan, claimed that he was also “picked up, blindfolded and handcuffed” after morning prayers and taken to an undisclosed location by Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers.
Feroze claimed that the ATS officers picked up him because in their own words, he was a sympathiser of Khan.
Feroze, who had met Amjad in jail about a month-and-half ago, said the ATS accused him of transferring some weapons to his brother-in-law.
According to relatives, Feroze was released when they mounted pressure on the police that Amjad’s body would be buried only after he was released.
The post-mortem reports of the deceased showed they were shot multiple times from different directions. Three videos released on social media seemed to indicate that the police officers shot the men even after they were seriously injured or dead.
There was also disagreement between the MP government and the ATS on Wednesday over whether the terror accused were armed. While the ATS chief said they carried no arms, the MP Home Minister has contradicted this claim.