Two Madhya Pradesh officials fired for releasing SIMI members
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
BHOPAL - The Madhya Pradesh government Friday removed the principal secretary for jails and suspended the deputy jailer of Khachrod sub-jail in Ujjain over the release of five activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Sudesh Kumar, who was principal secretary for jails, was removed and Ashok Das, principal secretary in home department, given the additional charge. Sanjiv Gandhle, deputy jailer of Khachrod sub-jail in Ujjain district, was also suspended over the release of five SIMI members on Republic Day Jan 26.
The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government issued a press communiqu in this regard.
The move comes after Congress spokesperson K.K. Mishra alleged that Minister for Jails Jagdish Devda, principal secretary for jails Sudesh Kumar, director general for jails V.K. Pawar and state BJP’s general secretary Tapan Bhowmick took Rs.3 crore bribe and conspired to release the five SIMI members.
On every Republic and Independence Day the government releases prisoners who have completed half of their term and showed good conduct during the period.
The five SIMI members were convicted Jan 12 this year for “anti-national activities”. They were arrested on March 31, 2008 for allegedly possessing some “anti-national literature” and “weapons”. They had since been in custody. Till this year’s Republic Day, they had spent over 33 months in jail, around half of the five-year sentence they were awarded.
The five member of SIMI - Jadil Parwaj, Aiyaz Riyaz Ahmed, Akbar Afzal Khan, Mehruddin Shaikh and Irshad Ali were released Jan 26.
The Bajrang Dal has demonstrated widely on the issue and demanded the re-arrest of SIMI members. The Congress Friday raised the issue and levelled charges against the government and its officials.
On Thursday, the government had removed director general for jails V.K. Pawar.
