JOIN USWoman enters Isro on fake ID, held
A 41-year-old woman produced a fake identity card and gained entry into the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) premises here and stayed at its guest house for two days last week.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Isro took her into custody and handed her over to the Jeevanbheema Nagar police after establishing her identity.
Police arrested Buela M Sam on September 21 and booked her under Sections 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 420 (cheating) and 490 (breach of contract of service during voyage or journey) of the IPC. The police produced her before the magistrate and she was remanded in judicial custody till October 6.
When contacted, DCP (East) T G Krishna Bhat told Deccan Herald: “We can’t confirm anything at this stage. We are still investigating. Isro authorities have handed her over to the police. The matter came to light during the checking of the records.”
Suspicious behaviour
Isro chief spokesperson Deviprasad Karnik said Buela produced a fake identity card and gained entry into the guest house at the Isro Satellite Centre (ISAC) on Airport Road on Wednesday. Though the guest house is located on the premises of ISAC, it is outside the main entry with a less security. Though she stayed at the guest house for two days, Buela did not try to enter the main campus.
“She entered Antariksh Bhavan, Isro headquarters located on New BEL Road, on September 21 by showing a fake identity card. Her behaviour was found to be very strange and the CISF was informed. When she was questioned, her replies were found to be inconsistent,” Karnik said.
Karnik said that Isro staff reported that she had walked up to various people and gave out names of people listed on the board and insisted she wanted to meet them.
The CISF immediately informed the Intelligence Bureau, which summoned her husband, after being unable to elicit any coherent replies. Since both of them could not furnish any satisfactory answers, the CISF handed them to the City police for investigation. Karnik, however, denied she had gained access to any sensitive areas during the hours she spent at the headquarters.
Background
Buela hails from Kerala and is married to Alex Thomas, an English teacher at a local high school at Ahmedabad. The couple have two daughters who are pursuing engineering courses there. The couple stay at an apartment at Ahmedabad. Buela’s father passed away recently, and she had been to Kerala to attend the funeral at Kollam. She was deeply disturbed by her father’s demise, police sources said.
“She produced an identity card which showed her as a senior scientist at the Isro centre.
Security at the checking point allowed her in. She went to the guest house on Thursday and came out on Friday. She went to an Isro premises on New BEL Road in Sanjaynagar where a conference was to take place. She was detained on suspicion,” City police commissioner B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji told mediapersons here on Monday.
Her husband claimed that his wife was mentally challenged and suffered from depression and other psychological disorders. She has been under medication for the past one-and-a-half-years and disappeared from the house many a time in the past, he added.