Security Upped To Prevent Bhatkal Escape From Jail

Following intelligence reports from the Centre that Indian Mujahideen chief and prime accused in the Dilsukhnagar serial bomb blasts case Yasin Bhatkal was trying to escape from the Charlapally central jail, Telangana Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Narasimha today clarified that Bhatkal, who has been cooling his heels in the jail since 2014, was not using any cellphone inside the jail.

While all the prisoners in the jail had the facility to use a landline phone, the terrorist was not permitted to use that either, Narasimha stated. However, the Metropolitan Court had ordered that Bhatkal be allowed to speak with his family members twice a week over a landline, for upto 5 minutes each time.

The DIG said that Bhatkal always spoke in Arabic and Urdu with his family members, and that his conversations on the landline were being recorded as per the jail manual. Stating that Bhatkal had spoken to his family members 15 times in the recent past, the DIG said he may have used code language to tell his wife Zaheeda that he would come out of the jail shortly with the cooperation of his friends in Damascus, since the Telangana police and intelligence agencies did not gather anything to the effect of what the central intelligence agencies pointed out.

Bhatkal reportedly told his wife, who lives in Delhi, that after he came out of the jail, they could go to Damascus.

Further investigation revealed that a phone was smuggled into the prison a month ago, and that Bhatkal and some other criminals may have had access to it.

Intelligence Bureau sleuths suspect that the dreaded criminal is planning to flee the jail with the cooperation of his friends in Damascus - i. e. IS operatives.

With the alert from the IB, the Charlapally jail authorities have stepped up security around the jail premises, especially at Bhatkal's barrack. (NSS)