IB sleuths quiz Buela

Special teams from the central agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), have landed in the City, seeking access to Buela M Sam,. The City police are working in tandem with the central agencies.

Sources in the City police told Deccan Herald that IB sleuths were also part of the interrogation of the woman at an undisclosed location. The agencies have ruled out any terror threat to Isro. However, they are looking into the espionage angle.

T Suneel Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), said two special teams of the City police had left for Ahmedabad and Kollam in Kerala to check Buela’s antecedents. She had claimed to have procured the fake identity card from a photo studio in Kollam. Police Commissioner B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji told Deccan Herald that they were looking for the person who might have helped her get the fake identity card.

Sources said IB sleuths were already in Ahmedabad and Kollam and were questioning Buela’s family members in connection with the case.  The interrogation is going on in the presence of a woman officer and Buela is lodged at the State women's home in the night. Buela's husband Alex Thomas has claimed that she is mentally unsound and is under psychiatric care.

Sources say Buela is not cooperating with the authorities and has retreated into a shell.
“For most of the questions, she is giving monosyllabic answers. Moreover, her answers are very contradictory. She claims to be a scientist at Isro, the next minute she talks of her family. There is no hope of a clear picture emerging out of her questioning, ” said a senior officer. 

Sources said a psychiatrist was present during Buela’s questioning to help the police. The police will also subject her to a detailed medical examination and a psychiatric evaluation at Nimhans.

 They have collected her medical records from Alex.  Alex is in the City since Tuesday and has been co-operating with the authorities in the investigation. He told the police that Buela, who was shocked at the recent death of her father Samuel, left her native Punalur, Kollam on September 11 in a huff, saying she would return to Ahmedabad. He came to know her whereabouts only when her photo was flashed in the media.