J-K Police sends out advisory on fake calls asking for details on security situation

Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday sent out an advisory cautioning against phone calls by people impersonating as senior officers and asking for details on the security situation in the state.

The advisory was circulated to all police officers, the state bureaucracy as well as panchayat heads and others.

Officials said the advisory was issued on the request of the Army, which has been apprehensive about details of troop mobilisation and movement of weaponry in villages located along the International Border and the Line of Control being leaked.

More than 10 reports have come in over the last 10 days about "police, civil officers as well as some civilians" receiving phone calls from suspicious unknown numbers, the advisory says.

The callers impersonated as senior army officers, senior police officers, senior civil administration officers and "tried to inquire about some security related issues", it states.

"During investigation by experts, it has been found that these calls are rooted from outside the country through a specialised software due to which some other phone numbers, mostly starting with +91 code, are displayed on mobile screen," it says.

It asks people not to entertain such calls and immediately bring the matter to the notice of the local police.

Investigations showed the calls were made from outside India, officials said.

"Some anti-national elements are trying to get some vital information by fooling the people," an official said.

The state has been on edge since February 14 when a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 soldiers. On February 26, India struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan. The next day, tensions escalated with an Indian pilot being captured by Pakistan as both countries claimed to have down each other's aircraft.