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In a major crackdown, Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday seized 14 mobile phones from a sub-jail in Baramulla district of Kashmir which were allegedly being used by the inmates to be in touch with their contacts in Pakistan via WhatsApp.
The phones were seized from the prisoners, who included those held on charges of militancy and stone-pelting, just three days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that Pakistan is using social media to fuel unrest in Kashmir.
"We had got inputs from jail authorities about their suspicion of some mobile phones being operated from inside the jail premises. In a joint search operation by the jail and police officials, 14 mobile phones were recovered along with some incriminating material," Senior Superintendent of Police, Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain said.
"There are quite a few militants there and we have recovered some phones from 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," he said.
The recoveries were made from prisoners who were involved in stone pelting and militant activities, the SSP said, adding the recovered phones were being sent for forensic tests gather details about the purpose they were being used for.
He said an FIR has been registered against 10-12 inmates and investigation is on to find out how these articles, which are not authorised as per the jail manual, have made entry into jail premises.
Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament on Friday that Pakistan is using the social media to incite youths in Kashmir to storm encounter sites to help holed-up militants.
That statement came after three youths were killed in action by security forces against a stone-pelting mob which trying to disrupt an anti-militancy operation in Budgam district of Kashmir.