BHOPAL : A new egg-shaped high security block, akin to the block that housed 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, could be the new address of the jailed Naxals, Chinese Simbox case accused and Students Islamic Movement India (SIMI) men at the Bhopal Central Jail by October.
By October Bhopal Central Jail will be at par with other highend prisons in terms of security features.
Presently the jail houses around 50 most security sensitive inmates including around 30 SIMI operatives, naxal operatives arrested in connection with arms factory in Bhopal in 2007, alleged ISIS operatives , the key players of the Chinese SIMBOX guided espionage ring busted in January-February 2017, SIMI founder Safdar Nagori and its self-styled MP chief Abu Faisal alias Doctor.
The block is being developed by the state government’s PWD and 50 percent work is already complete a senior official at the state jail department said.
The design of the block has been finalised after visits by jail officials form Tihar Jail, Arthur Road Jail, Yerawada Jail and others.
An official of the jail department said “All we can tell now is that this block can never witness any jail break. The fully concrete and no brick jail will even prevent digging for underground tunnels. The design of 31 individual cells in the block is such that even a single guard can keep a watch on all individual cells at a given time.”
The security system will cost around Rs 3 crores. It will have most updated CCTV cameras at all possible key points.
The government has approved 120 additional posts of security personnel for the Bhopal Central Jail.
The security at the Bhopal Central Jail has been an issue of public focus since on the intervening night October 30-31, 2016, when eight SIMI men allegedly escaped from one of the high security blocks after murdering a jail guard. However, they were gunned down in an alleged encounter with the state police on outskirts of Bhopal a few hours later.