She had booked her train ticket from hometown Ahmedabad well in advance — to meet her son on the occasion of Bhai Dooj on Tuesday when authorities in the Bhopal central jail allow woman visitors.
The middle-aged mother’s anticipated meeting, called ‘khuli mulaqat’ in prison parlance, didn’t happen in the jail’s visiting area. She met her son Mujeeb Sheikh in the mortuary of a hospital.
“Police killed him in a fake encounter. We want a judicial or a CBI inquiry. But will that happen, I doubt. And does it matter now; my son will not come back…,” she said, dressed in a jet-black burqa as she fought her emotions to retain her composure.
Mujeeb was among eight prisoners gunned down on Monday after they escaped in a daring jailbreak.
“Last time when I saw my son on Eid this September, he told me that next time I visit him, I should get some of his favourite dishes. He was a very intelligent boy; he was a software engineer. But he is no more now,” his mother said.
Accompanied by her husband Jamil Ahmed Sheikh, she collected the son’s cold corpse from the mortuary.
{{/usCountry}}Accompanied by her husband Jamil Ahmed Sheikh, she collected the son’s cold corpse from the mortuary.
{{/usCountry}}The parents along with families of those killed in the alleged shootout approached lawyer Naeem Khan with a raft of unanswered questions.
“How did the eight get fresh sports shoes and jeans that they were wearing when police killed them? How did they escape undetected from a special cell where 20-25 men guard them round-the-clock and cameras keep an eye on every movement?” Khan asked.
Mujeeb, a suspected member of the Indian Mujahideen militant group, was arrested in June 2011. He was accused of having a role in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts, planting bombs in Surat and training jihadi recruits.