E-Paper
Chidambaram raises questions on pre-paid verification
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today had some tough questions for security agencies after he was told that as many as 1.5 lakh pre-paid mobile subscribers were verified with nothing adverse being found.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today had some tough questions for security agencies after he was told that as many as 1.5 lakh pre-paid mobile subscribers were verified with nothing adverse being found.
Chairing the meeting with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at a meeting of the Unified Command here, Chidambaram asked officers of Intelligence agencies about the details of pre-paid mobile connections verified since January 22 till date.
The Centre had lifted ban on pre-paid mobile phones on January 22 and asked telecome operators and security agencies to re-verify all the customers before starting the services on SIM cards.
When told by senior Intelligence officials that 1.50 lakh customers had been verified so far till February 15, Chidambaram wondered whether it was possible to verify such a large number of customers in such a short span of time.
The minister also raised doubts as to how nothing adverse was found even in a single case.
According to the intelligence agencies which includes the state CID as well, 6,250 phones were verified per day between January 22 and February 15 (24 days).
These 24 days included two holidays and eight days of hartal in Kashmir province.
