Zee Media Journo Pokes Holes in Police Version of SIMI Encounter

Dubey posted a Facebook status questioning the veracity of the account, getting almost 2,000 likes in under a day.

On Monday, eight SIMI members escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail. Within hours of their escape, they were tracked and shot dead by police forces. However, there were several questions regarding the entire episode raised by many on social media. Here’s what Pravin Dubey, a Zee Media Corporation journalist, had to say (translated from Hindi):

Mr Shivraj,

There is something about the encounter of these alleged SIMI terrorists which is still unclear. I was present at the site myself. I reached the spot after a 5 km trek on the hill where their dead bodies lay. Your brave soldiers ensured that there was no need to even take them to the hospital. Before your admirers accuse me of being anti-national, let me make it clear that I am not siding with the terrorists, or calling them innocent or martyrs. But why were they not captured alive...? I asked the ATS Chief right there about why they were denied a chance to surrender and instead shot dead straightaway.

He said they were trying to run and that it was hard to control them. However, their bodies were found at the edge of a cliff where even a single step would have meant a fall of several feet.

I saw your force fire into the air with my own eyes after the terrorists had been shot down, so that empty cartridges could become characters in your narrative. They were killed even when they could have been captured alive. Even a slight tremble in the body meant being shot at again. At least a few could have been kept alive. Why weren’t they asked the big motive behind their great escape from the prison?

Now, if your police concocts a story about an attack at the Prime Minister’s residence or the hijacking of President Obama’s plane, we would have no choice but to believe them because all eight of them are dead.

Mr Shivraj, if surgical strikes become a fashion of internal security, things might get a little difficult. I repeat, at least some of them could have been kept alive, if only one, if only for his statement. But never mind, it’s done, just make sure the background story you come up with for this is interesting enough, whenever you get the time. I promise you I haven’t heard any good tales since my grandmother passed away many years ago.

Your admirer.

The original post was shared on Dubey’s Facebook account. It garnered close to 2,000 likes and another 2,000 shares on the social media website in less than 24 hours. However, it was later removed.