The lawyer who represents the eight Students Islamic Movement of India undertrials killed on October 31 after they escaped from Bhopal Central Jail has demanded that a high court-monitored inquiry be conducted on the encounter. Parvez Alam told PTI, “It is baffling that the culprit of the encounter, which is the state government, has chosen its own investigator to probe its serious crime. This is a sheer mockery of democratic and judicial system.”

Alam said he will file a petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court for a fair judicial investigation. “We want the probe to be monitored by the high court and the panel should have lawyers from both sides – the government and the deceased," he added.

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The Madhya Pradesh government had announced a judicial investigation by SK Pandey on Friday after purported audio and video clips and contradictory versions by security officials raised doubts about the encounter. However, the retired high court judge said he is yet to receive any written communication from the government regarding the investigation.

Meanwhile, preliminary investigations have pointed to the role of insiders in the incident. Two jail staffers and two prison inmates are being questioned for their suspected involvement, reported Hindustan Times. According to the publication, a high-ranking official of the jail is suspected to have helped the eight undertrials escape from the prison. “He was the sole official, and used to be very friendly with the SIMI inmates,” an investigative official told Hindustan Times. There are also reports that the undertrials had made duplicate keys to unlock their cells and they scaled the jail walls by using bed sheets.

Investigators also found that the three closed-circuit television cameras near block B of the jail were not functioning. “There are around 50 cameras in the jail, most of which are working, but these three being off together is far too much of a coincidence. They had been turned off,” a senior officer told The Indian Express.

The police have maintained that the eight undertrials had escaped from Bhopal Central Jail on October 30 after murdering a security guard. They were intercepted on the outskirts of the city, and were eventually shot dead by the police.