Police officers and Special Task Force soldiers stand beside dead bodies of the suspected members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who earlier today escaped the high security jail in Bhopal, and later got killed in an encounter at the Acharpura village on the outskirts of Bhopal, October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Raj Patidar

Police officers and Special Task Force soldiers stand beside dead bodies of the suspected members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who earlier today escaped the high security jail in Bhopal, and later got killed in an encounter at the Acharpura village on the outskirts of Bhopal, October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Raj Patidar

BHUBANESHWAR, India Madhya Pradesh police shot dead eight Islamist prisoners who had escaped from jail hours earlier on Monday by using knotted bedsheets to scale the walls, officials said.

The men, members of a banned militant group awaiting trial, fled the high security jail in the early hours in Bhopal, after slitting the throat of a prison officer.

Police tracked the armed men down after local villagers reported suspicious movements, surrounded them outside the city and shot all eight dead, inspector general of police Yogesh Choudhary told Reuters.

The escaped prisoners "fired on the police party first" he said. "In retaliation police fired and all eight were dead. Four firearms and three knives were recovered."

The men had been facing charges including murder and robbery, Choudhary said. Three had escaped from another Indian prison in 2013.

All eight were members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a group formed in 1977 which has been accused of involvement in bomb attacks across the country.

The home ministry has ordered an enquiry into the prison break, Indian media reported.

(Writing by Tommy Wilkes; editing by Andrew Roche)</s>The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists also killed a jail security guard and scaled the jail walls with bedsheets.

Eight activists of the banned outfit SIMI escaped early on Monday from the Bhopal Central Jail by killing a security guard and scaling the prison wall with the help of bed sheets.

“Eight SIMI activists escaped around 2-3 a.m. by killing a jail security guard,” DIG Bhopal Raman Singh said.

The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists also killed a jail security guard and scaled the jail walls with bedsheets, he said.

They killed the guard by slitting his throat with steel plate and glass after overpowering him, the DIG said.

"The incident happened around 2 a.m. when there was a change of guard. Jail official Ramashankar Yadav was overpowered by these men and killed, they snatched the keys and opened the cells. After that, they rushed to the outer periphery wall of the jail, made stairs out of bedsheets and escaped," said SP Arvind Saxena.

Further details are awaited, he said, adding that a hunt has been launched to nab them.</s>A high alert has been sounded on Monday following a jail break by eight Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists in Bhopal, even as the Union Home Ministry sought a report from the Madhya Pradesh government.

This was the second major jail break by operatives of banned SIMI in three years after the sensational escape by seven members of the group from a jail in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh in 2013.

Concerned over the incident, a nationwide alert has been sounded for the hunt of the eight SIMI men, who escaped from Bhopal jail after killing a jail security guard, official sources said.

All States neighbouring Madhya Pradesh have been specifically told to remain alert and keep special vigil along their borders with Madhya Pradesh, sources said.

Central security officials were in regular touch with the state police officials and providing inputs to help nab the escapes.

The Home Ministry also asked the Madhya Pradesh government to send a detailed report about the jail break, whether there was any lapse on the part of the jail administration and the steps taken to check such incidents.

The Central security agencies were particularly anxious as four of the seven SIMI activities, who escaped from a jail in Khandwa October 1, 2013, could be arrested only after three years and during the period of their hiding, the militants were involved in multiple incidents of terror and a bank robbery.

The seven SIMI men had made an audacious escape from the district jail in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh after scaling a 14-foot wall.

While one prisoner surrendered the next day and another was caught in December 2013 from Barwani in Madhya Pradesh.

A third was killed in an encounter with Telangana Police on April 5, 2015, but the four continued to evade police for three years till their arrest in February 2016 in Rourkela in Odisha.

While in hiding, the SIMI men were allegedly involved in terror activities in several States including Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The group is suspected to be involved in a bank robbery in Karimnagar (Telangana) on February 1, 2014, blast in a Bangalore-Guwahati train at the Chennai Central station that killed a young software engineer, on May 1, 2014 and the July 10, 2014 explosion near Faraskhana and Vishrambag police stations in Pune.

They were also allegedly involved in explosions in Roorkee in Uttarakhand and in Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.</s>The Madhya Pradesh government’s version of the incident where eight alleged members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India were shot dead by police in the State under suspicious circumstances on Monday after they escaped from Bhopal’s central jail (Page 1, Nov.1) raises several doubts. How did the men escape despite high security arrangements in the prison and systems and gadgets installed? Was it negligence on the part of the prison authorities or a case of connivance? Why was it necessary to shoot the men when some of them were injured? There are many loose ends. Were Supreme Court guidelines in such cases followed by the police?

The official version just does not add up. Footage of the purported encounter has only added to the discomfiture of the State police and their political masters. While no responsible citizen can hold a brief for elements indulging in acts of terror, one cannot at the same time let the law enforcement agencies run amuck and act in a manner not consistent with the rule of law. The charges against those killed were yet to be proved before the trial court. There have been innumerable instances where the persons initially arrested for acts of terror were later found to be innocent, the Malegaon bomb blast cases of 2006 being an example. Given the sensitivity of the case, any investigation by agencies answerable to the executive of the day would lack credibility. It is a fit case for suo motu intervention by the Supreme Court.

It is pathetic that political parties such as the Congress and the CPI(M) are now demanding a probe into the incident despite being well aware that the men were involved in terror cases and escaped after killing a jail officer. There is a limit to politicising such issues.

It is upsetting that there are quite a few political elements that are more interested in practising appeasement politics than in praising the police. The Madhya Pradesh State police acted swiftly but had they failed to act, these elements would have been quick to change track and blame the government.</s>Parvez Alam says he has seen the post mortem reports of the eight men.

The eight Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists killed in an alleged encounter on Monday sustained gun shots in the head and chest, their lawyer claimed on Wednesday, citing post mortem reports.

“They were fired upon from the front and all of them sustained injuries in their head and chest, above the waist,” lawyer Parvez Alam told PTI. He claimed that he has seen the post mortem reports of the SIMI men.

Repeating his claim that it was a fake encounter, he said that according to a Supreme Court ruling, the police should fire below the waist.

Mr. Alam said he would petition the local court for medical examination of the remaining members of the banned organisation lodged in the jail in Bhopal, and alleged they were assaulted. He also claimed that there was threat to his life.

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

“I am going to move the Bhopal Chief Judicial Magistrate court seeking conduct of a medical examination of 20-odd so-called SIMI members in jail,” he said.

“I have learnt that they have been brutally beaten,” he alleged.

“Besides, I am going to meet MP Director-General of Police and seek security for myself,” Mr. Alam said.

“As I am openly speaking against the encounter, now I fear for my life and family members after the cold-blooded murder of my clients,” he said.

On Tuesday, bodies of seven of the eight SIMI activists were buried in different parts of Madhya Pradesh amid tight security.

While the last rites of Amjad Khan, Zakir Hussain, Mohammad Salik, Sheikh Mehboob, Aqueel Khilji, Mohammed Khalid and Abdul Majid were conducted in the State, the body of another deceased Sheikh Mujeeb was taken to Ahmedabad by his family members.

All the bodies were handed over to the kin after post mortem in Bhopal. While taking custody of the bodies, the relatives questioned the genuineness of the police encounter.

However, police have dismissed criticism over the encounter killings, saying there was heavy exchange of fire in which they were felled and four country-made guns and some sharp-edged weapons were recovered from them.

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 pre-dawn jailbreak, 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.

Besides the veracity of the video, police are also probing how the SIMI terror suspects could lay their hands on weapons after their escape.

Mr. Alam on Tuesday said that the families of the accused have decided to move the Madhya Pradesh High Court for a CBI probe into entire episode as well as the killings what they called a fake encounter.</s>Aler fake encounter repeated in Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh, Fake encounter killing has become a policy of Indian government.

Hyderabad (1 November 2016): Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee states that there are no enough words to condemn the brutality and inhuman act done by the BJP led Madhya Pradesh government by killing the eight under trial Muslim prisoners in the name of “encounter”. After seeing the Bhopal fake encounter killing and the cruelty of the police personnel backed by the state government it is clear that killing under trial Muslim prisoners in the name of “encounter” has become the policy of the BJP government. Their trial was near to completion and they had chances of acquittal from the court, but the state did not want them to be acquitted so they chose them, made plans, scripted and staged drama, killed and then named it as encounter. On this whole episode of planned killing, humanity is hanging in shame.

After seeing this cruel operation, once again the Aler encounter of Telangana state by the TRS government is reminded. The same has been repeated in Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh. In both the incidents youth were Muslims who were under trial prisoners, their trial had come to an end and they had great hopes and fair chances of acquittal from all the charges that were framed against them after which they would’ve lead a normal life as free men. But it is a matter of great concern that the under trial Muslim prisoners are not safe in Indian jails. In the present era of BJP’s Hindutva government, the sword of encounter always hangs over them; when and who will be encountered is matter of time suitable to the ruling fascist governments at centre and state levels. It is a matter of fact that killing of people in the name of “encounter” has become a policy of the Indian government; instead of bringing them to justice the state is itself deciding who and when has to be killed sparing no space for the judiciary to provide justice.

On this encounter already many questions have raised on police action and dubious standard of state government. People of India are unable to understand the story of under trials fleeing from jail. But it is largely believed that the conspiracy is hatched to bring them out from the jail, taken to secluded and open place in the outskirts of Bhopal and were asked to run to save their lives, but they must have understood that they would be killed because in a video it is seen that they raised their hands pleasing the police to spare them. But as the plan was already scripted and sanctioned by the government to kill them, they were gunned down mercilessly in front of huge crowd by the security forces along with the slogans ‘shoot him in the chest still he is alive’, Bharat mata ki jai’ etc. In short, this killing is the clear evidence of how fake encounters take place in India.

When the under trials are killed by the state and police on the name of encounter, the judiciary is always deaf and dumb on the impunity by the state and police. It never makes the state and police neither accountable nor even questions as to how can the police kill the under trial prisoners who are in the judicial custody. The judiciary never takes any such killing as suo motu case and never runs any trial against the killers. Recently Chief Justice of India had cried on the large amount of cases pending & vacancies in the courts. But it is a matter of sad affairs that not even a single tear falls from his eyes or a single word from his mouth on the killing of human beings in the name of encounter.

Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee demands the Chief Justice of India to express minimum humanity and show the presence of judiciary in India by taking this case as suo motu under section 302 of IPC against the security personnel who are involved and the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh without whose approval this encounter killing would not have taken place. He must act atleast now when more than 40 people have been killed within a week in the name of encounter in Indian states of Andhra, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh.

This committee appeals to the people of India to pressurize the Indian ruling political classes to end the encounter culture and respect the ‘right to life’ of the citizens of India.</s>The Students Islamic Movement of India activists killed a jail security guard and scaled the jail walls with bedsheets.

Eight alleged members of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were killed in an encounter by Madhya Pradesh police on Monday, said officials.

The eight men had earlier escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail in Madhya Pradesh's capital city Bhopal early morning on Monday.

The SIMI activists also killed security guard Ramashankar Yadav by slitting his throat.

“Eight inmates related to the SIMI escaped from Bhopal Central Jail between 2 to 3 a.m. today. They used their blankets to make a rope and crossed the bigger wall of the jail. They also killed one security guard Ramashankar Yadav. All of them were accused of various crimes such as bank robbery, murder, and sedition. Search operations are on to nab them as soon as possible,” Bhopal Inspector General of Police Yogesh Choudhary told reporters.

According to a police officer posted in Bhopal, the SIMI men “overpowered” two security guards who were exchanging their shifts at around 3 a.m.

According to some unconfirmed reports, six out of the eight escaped SIMI activists were identified as Sheikh Mujeeb, Muhammad Khalid Akil, Jakir Hussain Sadiq, Mohammad Salik, Mehaboob Malik and Amjad Khan.

Three of those who escaped from Bhopal jail are the same who escaped from Khandwa prison in 2013. They were later caught by the Telangana police. The Madhya Pradesh government has announced Rs. five lakh as reward for information about the escaped prisoners.</s>Representatives of different organisations on Wednesday urged the Government to order for a probe by Supreme Court judge into the “killing of eight activists of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in Bhopal in the guise of encounter”.

Addressing a press conference here, speakers alleged that the video clip of the killing showed that it was “fake encounter”.

“How come the prisoners scale 32-feet high wall without suffering any scratches. With so many policemen around, couldn’t they capture the fugitives alive?”, asked Syed Tariq Quadri, general secretary of Soofi Academy.

He felt it was not possible for the fugitives without getting their act recorded by the surveillance cameras on the prison premises. Mr. Quadri described the encounter as a continuation of the killing of five prisoners, including Viqaruddin, at Alair in Bhongir of Telangana in April, 2015.

President of Lambadi Hakkula Porata Samithi (LHPS-Nangara Bheri), Dasram Nayak charged that the killing of SIMI activists were part of the conspiracy to polarise voters in ensuing Uttar Praadesh Assembly elections.

Praja Kala Mandali State Secretary J. Koti, Maulana Naseeruddin and Students Islamic Organisation of India (Telangana zone) public relations secretary Syed Azharuddin also demanded probe into the Bhopal encounter by a Supreme Court judge.</s>A Call To Young Scientists To Go Back To India At Chicago Conference

Over 100 young Indian scientists from universities across the Midwest learnt last week about multi-level collaborative initiatives in academia, industry and government between India and the United States, opening opportunities for them to participate in India’s socio-economic development, and also in nation building.

These scientists, most of them graduate and post-doctoral students at various universities, including the University of Chicago and University of Wisconsin, sat through the three-day conference titled “Young Investigators Meeting’ organized by Science and research Opportunities in India (Sci-RoI), a nonprofit under the auspices of WinSTEP Forward.

WinSTEP has partnered with the Indian government, scientific agencies and top-tier schools across India and the U.S. to facilitate mutually beneficial scientific research and scientific education-based public private partnerships between the U.S. and India.

The first ever YIM, facilitated by Ausaf Sayeed, India’s consul general in Chicago, was held Oct.21-23 at both the consulate and the University of Chicago and was addressed, among others, by professor Aseem Ansari, at the University of the Wisconsin in Madison and the co-founder of WINStep, Sam Pitroda, former advisor on technology to the Indian government, prof Ajit Chaturvedi of IIT, Kanpur, R Brakaspathy, secretary, science and engineering research board of the Indian government, Vinod (Vinny) Gupta, chair, Ohio Board of Regents, professor Sam Ramesh, Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University, and Johnathan Ward, principal commercial officer, U.S. consulate in Kolkata.

In his welcome address, Sayeed urged the young investigators to actively participate in nation building by contributing to India’s socio-economic development.

“The purpose of the first ever YIM here was to encourage post-doctoral students working in various faculties to go back to India where a lot of work and research opportunities exist these days. We wanted to inform them that the environment back home has become very enabling,” Sayeed told Desi Talk in an interview.

“Students in India can learn from their knowledge and the country can use their expertise for the growth and development of India. Not many people know that there are various fellowships available for them if they want to go to leading Indian institutions to carry on their research work and study,” Sayeed said.

“In the last couple of years, a reverse brain drain has started because of which scores of highly qualified Indians have returned to India whether to join academia or for entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, not many people are about this new India and the reverse brain drain. So, through this conference we sought to discuss ways for getting back the best of minds back to India,” Sayeed said.

In his address he invited researchers to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship programs, including “Make in India”, “Skills India”, “Digital India”, and “Green India”.

Pitroda, who addressed one of the sessions held in Chicago University, gave an “inspiring talk” on various opportunities for research in India these days. Pitroda said that while one can lead a good life in the U.S., if someone wants to help underprivileged people in India to have a good life, then one should “go back to India to make a difference.”

Ansari told this correspondent that there are some 200,000 Indian scientists and engineers working abroad, including in the U.S.]”At least one fourth of them have in the past few years returned to India and we believe several more such highly qualified scientists are seeking opportunities to go back to India where they can fulfill their professional aspirations in terms of research, and also would like to contribute to India’s development. This YIM has seemingly provided a platform for them to seek advanced career opportunities in India,” Ansari said.

Many of the researchers, who attended the conference, were impressed by its proceedings and said they looked forward to more such opportunities for interaction and learn more about the “enabling research environment” in India.

Said Kirti Yenkie, postdoctoral fellow, University of Wisconsin in Madison: “I was one of the attendees to the YIM. I thank the organizers and volunteers for putting together such a wonderful conference. I am willing to help with future organization of such meetings.”</s>The eight SIMI terrorists, who fled from the Bhopal Central Jail early this morning, have been killed in an encounter in Eintkhedi village. The SIMI terrorists escaped from the jail after killing a security guard and scaling the prison wall using bedsheets. 



 “The incident took place at around 2 a.m. The terrorists used blankets and bedsheets. They overpowered the two officers in charge and then opened the locks,” Superintendent of Police Arvind Saxena told ANI.



 Meanwhile, Sanjay Choudhary, Director General of the Bhopal Central Jail, said that the security of other prisoners has been increased post the incident. “The ADG Jail has been directed to probe the security lapses. The security has been increased for the other prisoners now. There will also be a high-level committee to probe the incident,” he added. 



 The terrorists tied up one guard and killed a head constable by slitting his throat with steel plate and glass at around 2 a.m. The terrorists then used ropes fashioned out of bedsheets to climb the boundary walls. Five officers including the Jail Superintendent have been suspended after the incident. 



 The action has been taken on the direction of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Chouhan told the media that Additional Director General of the jail has also been removed after the incident. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also spoke to Chouhan and sought for a detail report on the incident. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh earlier lambasted the jail administration for their negligence.
Police kill eight Students Islamic Movement of India members after their prison escape in Bhopal, India.