Congrats, all 8 have been killed': New footage of SIMI encounter crops up

Bhopal: Making matters murkier in the encounter of eight SIMI activists who escaped Bhopal Central Jail on Monday, two new audio clips emerged on Thursday revealing conversations between the police forces chasing the under-trials.

According to reports, the new audio clips contain conversations between the police control room and the Madhya Pradesh police officers. The recordings indicate that those involved in the operation were persuaded to use their personal mobile phones and communicate less on wireless phones so as to communicate better.

“Surround them from all sides.....Congratulations, all eight have been killed, DSP Crime has said. Very good. The bodies are lying in the middle,” a voice says.

“Don’t back off. Tell all Charlies, surround them and finish the job,” another voice is heard saying.

Asked about the clips, SP (CID) Anurag Sharma, who is heading the investigation into the operation told the Indian Express, “We will include everything in our investigation.” He added that he was yet to hear the tapes.

The new records come in wake of three videos of the encounter surfacing on the internet, which question the official version of the events that lead up to the encounter.

The activists were killed on the city outskirts at Malikheda following their escape from the high-security jail after slitting the throat of a security guard, and scaling the 32-ft wall using bedsheets in the wee hours of October 31.

Bhopal IG Yogesh Chaudhary has maintained that all questions raised over the encounter were a matter of investigation, as the series of events over seven hours between their escape and killing were still being probed.

This came soon after a controversy raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, as TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.

However, police has dismissed criticism over the encounter killing of the SIMI activists, claiming there was heavy exchange of fire in which they were felled. The police added that four country-made guns and some sharp-edged weapons were recovered from the terror accused.

Besides the authenticity of the videos, police is also probing how the SIMI terror suspects could lay their hands on weapons after their escape.