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The result of the probe formed the ground for the DoT to contented a directive connected November 28 past year, mandating that app-based connection services similar WhatsApp beryllium continuously linked to an active, carnal SIM paper wrong the device.
Investigations into the "white-collar" panic module linked to the blast adjacent Delhi's Red Fort connected November 10 past twelvemonth amusement that highly educated doctors utilized a blase web of "ghost" SIM cards and encrypted apps to coordinate with Pakistani handlers, officials claimed connected Sunday (January 4, 2026).
The result of the investigations fundamentally formed the ground for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to contented a sweeping directive connected November 28 past year, mandating that app-based connection services similar WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal indispensable beryllium continuously linked to an active, carnal SIM paper wrong the device.
Dual-phone protocol
The officials said the probe into the "white-collar" panic module and the blast led to a web of "ghost" SIM cards being utilized by the arrested doctors, including Muzammil Ganaie, Adeel Rather and others, arsenic portion of a tactical "dual-phone" protocol to evade information agencies.
Each accused, including Dr Umar-un-Nabi, who was killed portion driving the explosives-laden conveyance adjacent the Red Fort, carried 2 to 3 mobile handsets, they said.
The accused carried 1 "clean" telephone registered successful their ain names for regular idiosyncratic and nonrecreational usage to debar suspicion, and different was the "terror phone" utilized exclusively for WhatsApp and Telegram connection with their handlers successful Pakistan (identified by codenames 'Ukasa', 'Faizan', and 'Hashmi').
The SIM cards for these secondary devices were issued successful the names of unsuspecting civilians whose Aadhaar details were misused, the officials said.
The Jammu and Kashmir constabulary further unearthed a abstracted racket wherever SIMs were issued utilizing fake Aadhaar cards, they added.
A disturbing trend
According to the officials, the information agencies noted a disturbing inclination wherever these compromised SIMs remained progressive connected messaging platforms crossed the borderline successful Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) oregon Pakistan.
By exploiting features that let messaging apps to tally without a carnal SIM successful the device, the handlers were capable to nonstop the module to larn IED assembly via YouTube and crippled "hinterland" attacks, contempt the recruits initially wanting to articulation struggle zones successful Syria oregon Afghanistan.
To plug these information gaps, the Centre has invoked the Telecommunications Act, 2023, and Telecom Cyber Security Rules to "safeguard the integrity of the telecom ecosystem", which includes a regularisation that, wrong 90 days, each Telecommunication Identifier User Entities (TIUEs) indispensable guarantee their apps relation lone if an progressive SIM is installed successful the device.
The bid further directs the telecom operators to automatically log retired users from apps similar WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal successful lawsuit of the lack of an progressive SIM, the officials said, adding each work providers, including Snapchat, Sharechat and Jiochat, indispensable taxable compliance reports to the DoT.
This diagnostic of utilizing apps without a SIM is posing a situation to telecom cyber information arsenic it is being misused from extracurricular the state to perpetrate cyber frauds and panic activities, the DoT connection had said portion explaining the reasoning down the move.
The directive is being fast-tracked successful the Jammu and Kashmir telecom circle. While officials admit it volition instrumentality clip to deactivate each expired oregon fraudulent SIMs, the determination is seen arsenic a captious stroke to the integer infrastructure utilized by panic networks to radicalise and negociate "white-collar" operatives.
Failure to comply with these norms volition pull stringent enactment nether the Telecom Cyber Security Rules and different applicable laws, the officials said.
The "white-collar" panic module began to unravel connected the intervening nighttime of October 18-19, 2025, erstwhile posters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) surfaced connected walls conscionable extracurricular Srinagar city. The posters warned of attacks connected the constabulary and information forces successful the valley.
Treating it arsenic a superior matter, Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar, G V Sundeep Chakravarthy formed respective teams to behaviour an in-depth probe into the case.
After piecing unneurotic the statements of the arrested accused, the probe led the Srinagar constabulary to Al Falah University successful Haryana's Faridabad, wherever 2 doctors—Ganaie, a nonmigratory of Koil successful southbound Kashmir's Pulwama and Shaheen Sayeed from Lucknow—were arrested. A immense quantity of arms and ammunition, including 2,900 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and sulphur, was besides seized.
The car detonation lawsuit adjacent the Red Fort claimed 15 lives and is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency.
