The special police team probing the case of use of cell phones in prison by some of the accused in the killing of RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekharan will serve notices from Monday on owners of SIM cards and mobile phones recovered from jail.
Investigators have obtained the identity of the SIM card and mobile phone owners after the cyber cell tracked the call data records, tower locations and the IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) number of the devices. More than 15 persons have been identified for questioning in this connection, said G. Sparjankumar, Commissioner of Police, Kozhikode city, who is heading the investigation.
Seven of the nine mobile phones recovered from the jail had been used by the accused for contacting others. These devices were in the names of persons in Kannur and Kozhikode districts. The remand prisoners had used more than a dozen SIM cards of different telecom operators. Some of these phones were in the names of different people, including a woman.
Two SIM cards had been recovered from the jail. But the police have obtained evidence that several SIM cards had been smuggled into and out of the jail by the accused themselves or through accused who had secured bail in the case.
The call data records of the mobile phones revealed that the calls had been located under the towers near the jail at Puthiyara and near the Special Additional Sessions Court trying the murder case at Eranhipalam.
However, investigators are still in the dark about the accused using the mobile phones for updating their Facebook accounts. Only two devices have camera and Internet facilities, including e-mail, instant messaging, and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). This could be confirmed after obtaining the IP (Internet Protocol) address from Facebook authorities.
The police are also piecing together evidence regarding the smuggling of mobile phones into the jail. Smart phones could also have been smuggled in and out by accused who were released on bail.
The interrogation of undertrials will be done only after obtaining all evidence in the case. An application has to be moved before the Kozhikode Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in this regard.
Meanwhile, it is learnt, that the newly-appointed Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services T.P. Senkumar, who is also holding charge of ADGP (Intelligence), will visit the district jail on Sunday.
He is a member of a high-level team comprising the DGP and Home Secretary carrying out an inquiry into the illegal activities in the district jail.
