Eight terrorists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India escaped from the Central Jail in Bhopal on Monday by killing a security guard and scaling the prison wall with the help of bed sheets, following which some officials responsible for jail security have been suspended.
"Eight SIMI activists escaped at around 2-3am by killing a jail security guard," DIG Bhopal Raman Singh said.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said alert has been sounded across the state, while jail officials concerned looking after the security have been suspended.
State government has also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh each on the heads of the terrorists.
They were identified as -- Amzad, Zakir Hussain Sadiq, Mohammad Salik, Mujeeb Shaikh, Mehbood Guddu, Mohammad Kalid Ahmed, Aqeel and Majid, an official said.
The terrorists after killing the guard scaled the prison walls with the help of bed sheets, the DIG said.
The Union Home Ministry has sought a report from the Madhya Pradesh government about the jail break to find out whether there was any lapse on the part of the jail
administration and the steps taken to check such incidents
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.
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 central security agencies were particularly anxious as four of the seven SIMI terrorists, 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 terrorists were involved in multiple incidents of terror and a bank robbery.
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.
SIMI was banned by the government in 2001.
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