Kashmir: Police confiscate 14 mobile phones from a prison in Baramulla
They were used to stay in touch with some Pakistani numbers through WhatsApp, officers said.
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday confiscated 14 mobile phones from a prison in Baramulla district, reported PTI. Two of them belonged to separatist leader Masarat Alam, reported NDTV.
“We had got inputs from jail authorities about their suspicions that some mobile phones were being operated from inside the jail premises,” said Imtiyaz Hussain, senior superintendent of police, Baramulla. “There are quite a few militants there and we have found some phones on them as well. They were on WhatsApp and we can see that they were in touch with some Pakistani numbers as well...So we will look into the whole issue.”
Hussain said a First Information Report has been filed against 10 to 12 prisoners in connection with the case. The investigators are trying to figure out how the phones were smuggled into the prison. The mobile phones will be sent to forensic experts to retrieve the data that was in them.
Alam was arrested in 2015 after he held a rally in the Valley during which Pakistani flags were waved. He got bail twice later, but was subsequently detained.
On Friday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament that Pakistan was using social media and WhatsApp to instigate Kashmiri youth.