Bhopal, Nov 29 (IANS) A constable of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, involved in tracking members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was killed along with two others by a suspected activist of the group, in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district Saturday night. Six people have been arrested for the killings, police said Sunday.
The incident in Khandwa district, 200 km from here, occurred when the motorcycle borne assailant opened fire at ATS constable Sitaram Yadav (32) and two others - Jagatpal (25), son of a police constable, and Ravi Shankar Pare (50), a cooperative bank official. All the three died on the spot.

Condemning the killings, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Sunday vowed strict action against those responsible.

“Such acts will not be tolerated at any cost and all those behind the killings will be dealt with strictly,” he said.

The police, who have recovered the motorbike used by the assailant, suspect it to be the work of a SIMI activist since the ATS constable was involved in several operations against SIMI activists and had good knowledge about their movements. “He was involved in cracking the SIMI network in Khandwa district, which was one of SIMI’s major bases,” police said.

“Six people have been rounded up in connection with the killings. The motorbike used in the killings was stolen from Harda district on Nov 17,” G. Janardan, Khandwa range deputy inspector general, told IANS. “It seems to be a fallout of one of our operations (against the SIMI). We are trying to establish the facts,” he added.

Khandwa has been an active base of SIMI and several SIMI members have been arrested from this region in the recent past. Significantly, about a month ago another ATS officer, K. Agarwal, posted in Khandwa, escaped with bullet injuries after he was attacked in a similar manner.

Indore range Inspector General Sanjay Rana, referring to Saturday’s killing, said: “The Madhya Pradesh ATS constable was in the team that arrested a SIMI activist from Indore a few days ago. The attack could be an act of retaliation. We are trying to ascertain the facts while focusing on the arrest of the accused.”

“The police have launched a massive search operation in the border areas of the state since there is evidence that the offender went into the jungles bordering Maharashtra,” IG (Intelligence) A.K. Soni told IANs.

Chouhan, who reached Khandwa, lauded the role of the killed constable in cracking the SIMI network in the state and announced financial help of Rs.1 million (Rs.10 lakh) for his family members and Rs.500,000 (Rs.5 lakh) each for the families of other two victims.

The chief minister told reporters in Khandwa that one family member of each of the victims would be given a government job.