Bhopal encounter: Minister and DGP not on same page

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh home minister Bhupendra Singh and state director general of police (DGP) R.K.Shukla on Tuesday struck a different note on constituting a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the Monday’s alleged encounter killing of eight suspected student Islamic movement of India (SIMI) operatives here.

While Mr Singh categorically stated that there was no necessary for a probe into the death of the eight terror suspects who were gunned down on the outskirts of the city after they broke out of the Bhopal central jail early on Monday morning, the DGP announced constituting a SIT to investigate the incident, saying, “It is mandated by the law that the state’s CID will investigate the encounters for a free and fair probe. There is nothing new in it”.

“The CID officials will probe the incident and inform on its findings to the court as per law”, he added. The minister however said there was no need for the investigation into the incident since the inspector general of police (IGP) Yogesh Choudhury has already briefed the media about details of Monday’s encounter killing to the media.

“The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe will also only confine to the jailbreak incident to unravel the conspiracy behind their escape and the encounter killing will be out of its purview of investigation,” Mr Singh has told the reporters here.