The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on November 1.

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses serious doubts about the veracity of the claims being made with regard to the encounter in Bhopal in which eight undertrials, whose guilt had not been established, were killed. The eight killed are suspected to have links with the SIMI and were facing trial in various cases. How the accused could have escaped from a high security prison, also raises serious questions. The state government owes a full explanation how this occurred.

The claim by the Madhya Pradesh Police that the accused were shot dead after they were attacked by these men who were armed is contradicted by the state’s home minister Bhupendra Singh. That these men could secure arms while being unable to get a vehicle to make good their escape sounds implausible.

Video clips that have surfaced of the incident show policemen shooting at one of the ‘escapees’ as he lies on the ground. Another shows them waving at policemen, presumably indicating that they want to surrender. All these raise serious doubts about the veracity of the police claims.

In the light of these concerns, the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that a judicial enquiry headed by a sitting judge be constituted to conduct a thorough investigation into the entire episode. The chief minister has announced that an enquiry would be conducted by the NIA. Such an enquiry would neither be credible nor acceptable.