Bhopal SIMI activists encounter: Probe chief still to get basic facilities

Bodies of SIMI terrorists who were killed in an encounter after they escaped from Central Jail, being handed over to their relatives and family members after post-mortem in Bhopal. (PTI photo)

A fortnight after announcing a judicial probe into the jailbreak that was followed by killing of SIMI activists in an encounter near Bhopal, the Madhya Pradesh government is yet to provide basic infrastructure to the retired high court judge Justice S K Pandey who is heading the probe. “I have written to the law department for providing the infrastructure. I understand they have appointed a nodal officer,’’ Justice Pandey said.

He said he was in Jabalpur on official work and was ready to take up the new assignment from November 24.

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“The probe will take time. You can enquire about my professional competence from advocates in courts. I don’t know what he has said,’’ he said when asked about former’s advocate general Anand Mohan Mathur’s allegation that “Justice Pandey is an RSS sympathiser and the probe will not be impartial”.

Meanwhile, SDM Rajiv Nandan Shrivastava, who is conducting magisterial inquiry into the jailbreak and encounter Monday issued a notice asking people to provide evidence in the next 15 days.