Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday termed the alleged gunning down of eight SIMI undertrials in Madhya Pradesh ‘very serious’ development and demanded a Supreme Court monitored investigation.

Kejriwal said, “This is very serious. We demand an SC monitored investigation.”

This is very serious. We demand an SC monitored investigation https://t.co/VpjjPrH7nt — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 31, 2016

The Delhi chief minister was joined by the CPI-M general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, who said that the killings of ‘undertrial prisoners’ raised several questions.

Yechury tweeted, “‘Escape’ of 8 undertrial-prisoners from Bhopal Central Jail, & then their killing by ATS raises serious questions.”

'Escape' of 8 undertrial-prisoners from Bhopal Central Jail, & then their killing by ATS raises serious questions. https://t.co/DLrtpAsf5g — Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) October 31, 2016

While Congress and CPI-M sought a judicial probe so people get to know the truth, the BJP questioned Congress for coming in support of SIMI terrorists and accused it of politicising the incident.

“I am demanding a judicial probe because even the government must know under what circumstances they escaped.

People of the state and country must know how terrorists with with such a record were able to escape from such a high security jail and within hours caught and shot dead,” Congress leader Kamal Nath, a Lok Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, said.

His party colleague Manish Tewari, however, said he would comment on the issue after more details are received since the situation is still evolving.

“It is an evolving situation. Let the police come out with further details as to what happened. We will await for the details. It’s much better to wait for more details,” he said.

Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad on Monday had claimed to have killed eight SIMI activists, who fled from Bhopal Central Jail on Sunday night. They were reportedly killed in Eintkhedi village on the outskirts of Bhopal.

The eight activists of the banned SIMI had allegedly escaped 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 or Students Islamic Movement of India activists escaped at around 2-3 AM by killing a jail security guard,” DIG Bhopal Raman Singh told PTI.

However, the claims made by Madhya Pradesh police and the government were replete with glaring contradictions.

Later a video of cops shooting dead bodies had emerged giving credence to suspicion that the their killings were orchestrated. This had also come in chilling reminder of what was once known as Gujarat Model under which alleged staged encounters were rampant.

(With PTI inputs)