Jul 4 (NDTV): Yasin Bhatkal, the co-founder of banned terror group Indian Mujahideen, made a phone call to his wife last month from a jail in Hyderabad saying he will be out soon with help from Damascus, say sources.

The phone call by Bhatkal to his wife Zahida, was allegedly made from an official phone in the high security Cherlapally Jail, and was intercepted by security agencies about a month ago. The call hints at him getting help from the Islamic State, which controls large swathes of territory in both Syria and Iraq.

Bhatkal, 32, arrested in 2013 in connection with the Mumbai serial blasts in 2011, has permission granted by a court to use the official phone inside the Hyderabad prison. He can talk twice a week to family members. The names and phone numbers of his relatives are registered.

All phone conversations are recorded by jail authorities.

VK Singh, Director General, Telangana Prisons, said if Yasin spoke about getting help from Damascus or was planning to run away from the jail through the official phone, then maybe he was trying to mislead the police as he knows that the phone is being recorded.

Singh also denied the possibility of using mobile phones from inside the jail. Bhatkal is lodged in a high special security cell where he is always guarded by a security guard.

"There is no question of anybody talking from inside a jail (from a cellphone)... Yasin Bhatkal has been talking to his wife through court permission from our authorized phone. Such conversation is always recorded and made available to the investigating agency," Singh told NDTV.

Yasin Bhatkal was arrested from Bihar in 2013 by the National Investigation Agency. He was the key conspirator of three powerful blasts which ripped through crowded areas in Mumbai - Zaveri Bazar, Opera House and Kabutar Khana - on July 13, 2011, killing at least 21 people and injuring 141.