'Terrorists fed chicken biryani in jail': MP CM slams those doubting SIMI encounter

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has slammed those raising doubts over the encounter of eight SIMI terror accused near Bhopal on Monday.

According to a report, the Chief Minister in a speech on Tuesday said, "Those being tried for terror take years to get punished. For years, they are fed chicken biryani in jail. Then they escape and indulge in more crimes and attacks...we need fast-track courts for terror cases too."

Chouhan visited the Bhopal Central Jail to take stock of the security situation on Wednesday. The jail head officer had on Tuesday stated that keeping 29 SIMI men in a single facility was always a risk and that the jailbreak 'was bound to happen.' MP minister in charge of prisons Kusum Mehdale admitted that there were lapses in security at the prison.

Read: SIMI activists were shot multiple times from different sides: post-mortem

Chouhan and several BJP leaders have publicly defended the operation, claiming that it was the SIMI men who opened fire on the police officers, hours after they escaped from the Central Jail in Bhopal on Monday. They have slammed the Congress and Opposition parties demanding a probe into the encounter, calling it vote bank politics.

However, three videos of the incident have appeared on social media, indicating that the STF officers fired bullets into men already lying injured or dead on the ground.

Moreover, a post-mortem report has said that the SIMI accused were shot at multiple times from different directions.

The National Human Rights Commission has sought an explanation from the government and the police on the matter.

Meanwhile, there seems to be disagreement between the MP Home Minister Bhupinder Singh and the state police chief over the encounter. While Singh has dismissed the need for a probe, the police chief has said that CID will conduct an investigation into the encounter.