Pakistan continues to deny that they used any F-16 jets in their intrusion into Indian airspace on February 27, a day after the Balakot air strike, however, an India Today TV investigation has found that the PoK police has appointed officials to protect the site where their F-16 crashed after being taken down by IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

Several agencies in Pakistan, along with civilians, state and non-state actors tried to deny the damages caused in the February 26 Indian Air Force (IAF) air strikes.



But India Today TV's special investigation team has penetrated the deception. The network's undercover reporters caught residents of Balakot and police officials in PoK admitting on tape that the Indian strikes also caused military casualties and not just destruction of terror infrastructure and militants.



PoK POLICE: PAK ARMY MUZZLED F-16 INFO



In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a police official promised to protect the site of a Pakistani F-16 downed in an aerial engagement with the IAF along the LoC.



Pakistan has been consistently denying using the American-made warplanes despite India displaying fragments of an advanced missile from the felled F-16.



At Bhimber in PoK, the truth came out tumbling when the SIT dialled the city police station, posing as Pakistani military spies.



An officer who picked up the phone revealed the Pakistani army has ordered the entire security establishment not to let any information about the crashed jet go out.



"Sir, we have been asked not to give any information about it," the Bhimber police official said on the phone.



"Who gave you these instructions?" asked the reporter.



"Sir, this decision was taken at a meeting our senior officers had with army officials," the official replied.



Secrecy envelopes the F-16s in Pakistan, as the fighters were deployed against India in the post-Balakot escalation, which is in violation of agreements that limit their use to counter-terror operations.



The Bhimber police official didn't deny the aircraft wreck. Instead, he obeyed the command when asked to guard the site where the jet came down after it was hit by an Indian fighter plane.



"This is Captain Haneef. Go to the place where the Pakistani jet crashed and see to it that no foreign journalists reach there," the reporter asked the police official.



"Okay," he replied.



"I am talking about the spot where the Pakistani jet has crashed. Nobody should know that our plane crashed," the undercover journalist continued.



"Okay ji, okay, okay," answered the PoK official.