The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered that movement of terrorists to the courts be videographed and a detailed profile of their activities and sympathisers be maintained by the cops.
Images: 23 terror modules in UP
The videos will play a role in identifying the faces of terrorists' sympathisers as trysts with them mostly occur on way to court hearings, reports have said.
In a state-wide directive, Director General of Police Vikram Singh has ordered movement of terrorists to the courts be videographed.
"It has come to our notice that terrorists meet their associates on way to court hearings. A gazetted officer should accompany them and their movements must be videographed," the DGP said.
The move follows intelligence inputs of indoctrination and action coordinated by militants in the state's penitentiaries, a senior member of Anti-Terrorist Squad said.
"Our squad is keeping a close vigil on jailed terrorists. We have begun preparing detailed profiles of these prisoners and their sympathisers pursuing their cases in courts and helping them spread their dubious causes," the official said.
Terrorist supporters, sympathisers and overground workers, indeed, continue to play an important role in extending the reach of insurgents' networks.
As prison visits are strictly monitored, terrorists use hearings as opportunities to coordinate operations and meet their aides.
On February 27 last year, two Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists Maqsood and Sayeed fled from Lucknow court. Their aides, with whom they had been in touch even while in jail, had assisted their escape, investigating agencies said. Both terrorists are still at large.
At present, there are 73 terrorists belonging to LeT, HuJI and SIMI, including those suspected of a critical role in serial blasts on civil court premises in three districts, are lodged in different prisons of the state.
In Lucknow district jail alone, there are 29 terrorists who, according to intelligence reports, are in touch with their respective organisations.
Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's sharp-shooter Noor Baksh alias Noora, a Pakistani national, was shot outside Lucknow jail in October last year while trying to escape. Special Task Force sleuths recovered a diary from his possession, which revealed the names of his local contacts.
These contacts had helped him expand his network in the eastern part of the state.
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