You should praise us for killing escaped prisoners: MP Minister

Kusum Mehdale, the minister who handles prisons, told NDTV, "You should praise us for killing the accused even though they escaped" while admitting to 'lapses'."

"I accept there are lapses on our part. Some CCTVs in the jail may not be working. How they managed to scale the wall I don't know," Mehdale.

The encounter was a joint operation by Bhopal Police's counter terrorist group (CTG) and Anti-terror squad (ATS), led by IPS officer Sanjeev Shami, a Times of India report said.

The operation took place near Manikheda area under Gunga police station, after villagers informed law enforcers about the terrorists.

The daily quoted IG Yogesh Chaudhary as saying, "When they were confronted by a few of the villagers, they started pelting stones. Villagers mistook them as robbers and alerted the police. When they were asked to surrender, they opened fire forcing police to retaliate."

Two police officers were also injured in the encounter.

Officials are now trying to identity the people who helped these eight to escape.

Earlier on Monday morning, it was reported that eight terrorists fled jail after murdering a prison guard.

They used bed-sheets to scale the high security prison walls.

Three among the eight had been re-arrested after they were involved in a similar jail-break in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, three years ago.

Five prison officers have also been suspended for negligence of duty by state Home Minister Bhupendra Singh, who termed it as an 'unfortunate incident'.

The Union Home Minister too has asked for a detailed report from the state government.

The convicts who escaped have been identified as  Mohammad Aqeel Khilji alias Abdullah, son of Mohammad Yusuf, Mehboob Guddu alias Malik, son of Ismail of Khandwa (MP), Mohammad Khalid Ahmad, son of Mohammad Saleem of Siolapur Maharashtra, Mujeeb Sheikh alias Akram alias Wasim alias Nawed alias Nitin alias Faizan alias Chintoo alias Yusuf, son of Zamkl Ahmad, resident of Juhapura (Ahmedabad) Gujarat, Amzad son of Ramzan Khan, Zakir Hussein Sheikh alias Vicky don alias Vinay Kumar, son of Badalul Hussein and Abdul Majid, son of Mohammad Yusuf of Ujjain (MP), the daily reported.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister said that NIA will probe the SIMI jail break case, media reported.