Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 21
A day after the recovery of mobile phones, sharp-edged weapons and deep freezers from the high-security Kot Bhalwal jail here, security agencies have started scrutinising the call details made from the premises “to break the nexus between prisoners, including militants, and prison staff”.
“We are analysing the details of phone calls made from the seized mobile phones through their IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers as we are yet to find the SIM cards. We are hopeful of getting vital clues. It is premature to comment as who brought and provided the phones to prisoners,” a senior police officer, who was part of the search operation, told The Tribune.
He, however, did not rule out the possibility of presence of more mobile phones and other incriminating material inside the jail.
“There is no record of the last search operation conducted inside the jail. The authorities had noticed suspicious activity inside the prison about four months back and wrote to DGP Dilbag Singh, who is also DGP (Prisons), for necessary action,” a source said, adding that “security agencies were planning to conduct a search operation since then”.
On Sunday, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K Police and the Kot Bhalwal jail authorities conducted a joint search operation on the prison premises and recovered two mobile telephones, five pen drives, sharp-edged weapons, LPG cylinders, stoves, cooking material, deep freezers and several other incriminating items from the militants lodged there.
Daylong searches were carried out by around 300 men from 15 teams of the SOG, Jammu rural police, prison staff and some NGOs. The high-security prison, where the UN-designated terrorist, Masood Azhar, was once detained, currently has 510 prisoners, including 13 Pakistani and 170 local militants, stone throwers and detainees under the Public Safety Act.
“We cannot rule out the involvement of the jail staff in providing these facilities to militants and other hardcore criminals in the prison. We are investigating their role. Meanwhile, searches on the jail premises will continue until all incriminating items are seized. However, we are not sure as to how many more mobile phones are still there inside the jail,” another senior police officer said, adding that “clarity on prisoners’ contact with militant groups outside the jail will be established soon”.
In February 2018, the Centre had asked the J&K Government to fully review the security measures inside jails and transportation of inmates after a Pakistan militant, Naved Jatt, who was recently killed in an encounter in south Kashmir, managed to escape.
SOG men carry out search
- The Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K Police and the Kot Bhalwal jail authorities on Sunday conducted a joint search operation at the Kot Bhalwal jail
- It recovered two cell phones, five pen drives, sharp-edged weapons, LPG cylinders, stoves, food items and deep freezers from militants lodged in the prison
Prison staff’s role to be probed
“We cannot rule out the involvement of the jail staff in providing these facilities to militants and other hardcore criminals in the prison. We are investigating their role.” —Senior police officer