SIMI:
Fatal Jailbreak
Ajit
Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
Eight cadres
of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)
fled from the Bhopal Central Jail in Madhya Pradesh (MP)
at around 2 to 3am in the morning of October 31, 2016,
after killing a security guard, Head Constable Ramashankar,
by slitting his throat with steel plate and glass after
overpowering him. The escapees were identified as Mohammad
Aqeel Khilji aka Abdullah, Sheikh Mehboob aka
Guddu aka Malik, Amazad Khan aka Pappu
aka Daud aka Umer, Zakir Hussain Sadiq aka
Vicky Don aka Vinay Kumar, Mohammad Salik aka
Sallu, Mohammad Khalid Ahmad, Mujeeb Sheikh aka
Akram aka Wasim aka Nawed aka Nitin
aka Faizan aka Chintoo aka Yusuf,
and Abdul Majid.
Just hours
later, between 10.30and 11.30am, all the eight escapees
were killed in an encounter by the Security Forces (SFs)
near Manikheda Pathar at Eintkhedi village on the outskirts
of Bhopal. News media, opposition political parties and
civil society organisations have raised questions about
the genuineness of the encounter after the leak of a succession
of videos showing stages of the alleged encounter. Suspicions
were compounded by contradictory positions adopted by
different Government agencies and officials. With mounting
media furor, a judicial probe into the jailbreak and subsequent
encounter was then ordered by MP Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan in the night of November 3, 2016.
In the
meantime, Sanjeev Shami, the head of MP’s Anti-Terror
Squad (ATS), which led the encounter, asserted that the
escapees’ killing was necessary because of the danger
they posed. He added, without giving further details,
that "the police has the right to use excessive force
in some situations."
Significantly,
three of those killed in the Bhopal encounter –Zakir Hussain
Sadiq, Sheikh Mehboob, and Amazad Khan–were among seven
escapees from the Tantya Bheel Jail in MP’s Khandwa District
on October 1, 2013. Each of them then carried a reward
of INR one million, announced by the National Investigation
Agency (NIA), before their re-arrest from Rourkela in
Odisha on February 16, 2016.
Applying
a similar modus operandi, six SIMI cadres and another
jail inmate had escaped
from the Tantya Bheel Jail on October 1, 2013, after injuring
two policemen. The escapees were identified as Abu Fazal
aka Doctor, Zakir Hussain Sadiq aka Vicky
Don aka Vinay Kumar, Sheikh Mehboob aka Guddu
aka Malik, Amazad Khan aka Pappu aka
Daud aka Umer, Mohammed Aijazuddeen, Mohammed
Aslam aka Bilal, all SIMI cadres; and Abid Mirza
Beg, the other jail inmate. While Abid Mirza Beg was arrested
from Sarvodaya Colony in Khandwa within four hours of
the jailbreak, Abu Fazal was arrested from Barwani District
in MP on December 23, 2013. Mohammed Aijazuddeen and Mohammed
Aslam aka Bilal were killed in an encounter with
the Police near Janakipuram in the Nalgonda District of
Telangana, on April 4, 2015. One Police Constable was
also killed while another Policeman was injured during
the encounter. Zakir Hussain Sadiq, Sheikh Mehboob, and
Amazad Khan were rearrested from Rourkela in Odisha on
February 16, 2016.
After their
escape from Khandwa jail and prior to their arrest these
three – Zakir Hussain Sadiq, Sheikh Mehboob, and Amazad
Khan – along with other escapees from the Khandwa Jail
(prior to their respective arrest or killing) were found
involved in several acts of terror reported from across
the country. The most prominent among these incidents
included:
July 10,
2014: Five people, including a Policeman, were injured
in a low intensity bomb blast near Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati
temple in Pune in Maharashtra. The bomb was placed on
a motorcycle in the parking area of Faraskhana and Vishrambaug
Police Stations, located about 200 metres from the temple.
May 1,
2014: One passenger, identified as Swathi, died and another
nine were injured in a bomb blast in the Guwahati-Bangalore
Express train stationed at the Chennai Central Station
in Chennai (Tamil Nadu).
They were
also found involved in several cases of dacoity and bank
robberies in different parts of MP, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha
and Telangana. In one such operation, the group had looted
a State Bank of India branch in Karimnagar District in
Telangana on February 1, 2014, and had decamped with INR
4.6 million.
The six
escapees from Khandwa were among eight SIMI/IM (Indian
Mujahideen) suspects arrested by the MP Police ATS from
Jabalpur and Bhopal on June 5, 2011, in connection with
the November 29, 2009, triple murder of MP ATS trooper
Sitaram Yadav, lawyer Sanjay Pal and bank officer Ravi
Shankar Pare in Khandwa. They were also reportedly involved
in the June 2011 killing of another ATS trooper, Bharat
Singh Raghuvanshi, in MP’s Ratlam District; as well as
the August 23, 2010, INR 25 million gold robbery in Bhopal,
MP. Other banks in Itarsi city, Hoshangabad District,
and the Dewas District of MP, had also been looted by
them.
The five
SIMI cadres – other than Zakir Hussain Sadiq, Sheikh Mehboob,
and Amazad Khan – killed during October 31, 2016, encounter
were also a major threat. Most prominently, Mujeeb Sheikh
was facing charges for the July 26, 2008, serial blasts
in Ahmedabad (Gujarat), which killed 55 and injured 145.
Mohammad Aqeel Khilji was reportedly planning to assassinate
prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) leaders. While Mujeeb was arrested from Jabalpur
on June 5, 2011, Khilji, was arrested on March 27, 2012
from Aurangabad District of Maharashtra.
According
to reports, Abu Fazal was the mastermind of both the jailbreaks
(Khandwa and Bhopal) and all the 11 SIMI cadres involved
in these two incidents were part of the ‘Fazal group’
which had a larger plan of action, including freeing SIMI
‘chief’ Safdar Nagori from Sabarmati Central Jail (Ahmadabad),
where he is incarcerated since his arrest from Indore
in MP on March 27, 2008. They had also planned to take
American tourists hostage and use them as a bargaining
chip to free Aafia Siddiqui. Siddiqui,a Pakistani scientist,
was arrested in Afghanistan in 2008 and was flown to the
United States, where she was sentenced to 86 years in
prison for the attempted murder of two US soldiers.
SIMI was
formed at Aligarh in the State of Uttar Pradesh on April
25, 1977, and became progressively involved in terrorism
through the 1990s, turned into a major threat thereafter,
carrying out several
attacks, mostly in alliance with the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
between 2000 and 2008, across India. It lost its prowess
after the SFs launched a massive
crackdown post the September 13, 2008,
Delhi serial blasts, which resulted in 24 deaths. Its
attempt
to revive after the Khandwa jailbreak
was also thwarted by the SFs with the neutralization of
the group. According to partial data compiled by South
Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), since March 11, 2000,
705 SIMI cadres have been arrested in 124 incidents across
India (data till November 6, 2016).
There is
no information in the open source regarding how many of
these 705 arrested cadres are still in jail. Reports indicate
that at least 30 SIMI cadres were inside Bhopal Central
Jail prior to the October 31 incident. Several reports
confirm that the security at Bhopal Central Jail was compromised.
Former Madhya Pradesh Inspector General (Prisons), G.
K. Agarwal, in a letter dated June 26, 2014, had written
to the then State Chief Secretary, Anthony Desa, marking
copies to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the
Intelligence Bureau, to state, “At present, SIMI activists
from other prisons have been kept in the Bhopal Central
Jail. But given the structure of the jail building, its
vulnerable points, illogical security arrangement and
deplorable condition of staff, it would be wrong to presume
that everything is OK if no major incident takes place.
God is helping but it would a mistake to presume that
he will continue to offer help.’’ There is no report to
suggest that any corrective measures were taken thereafter.
More worryingly, reports now indicate that CCTV cameras
at the Jail were not fully functional and the escapees
knew this.
Presently,
global jihadi formations such as al Qaeda and Islamic
State (IS) are reportedly attempting to make inroads in
India, forging ties with 'home grown terror networks'
to serve their (al Qaeda’s and IS’) respective agendas.
This would include efforts to revive 'home grown terror
networks' who have lost influence and capabilities due
to successful SF operations over the last several years
(especially since 2008). Under this challenging and continuously
evolving security environment, lapses such as the October
31 incident, can prove extraordinarily expensive for national
security. It is imperative consequently, that respective
States and the Central Government safeguard their vital
assets – including penitentiaries where arrested terrorist
cadres are housed – lest the dangers of terrorism escalate
after a fairly extended downtrend.
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