Mangaluru man sneaked into IIT-Bombay campus, attended lectures; held

In a recent incident, a 22-year-old man was booked by Powai police for trespassing and attending classes at IIT Powai campus, media reports said.

Bilal Teli from Mangaluru came to IIT-Bombay on June 4 and has been putting up in the campus since then, posing as a student, until his arrest on June 19.

His identity was revealed after he was asked to present his identity card during a session by a professor. After his arrest on June 19, he was handed him over to Powai police.

A TOI report quoting Datta Nalawade, DCP (Zone X) stated that police did not find anything suspicious on him. The DCP further added, "He said he came to attend a one-day study programme at IIT campus but did not leave as he wanted to attend engineering lectures. He attended classes and stayed there.”

The complaint by IIT-Bombay noted, "On June 4... there was an alert that an unidentified man had entered the office premises without authorisation. Asked to show his identity card, he fled. She shared CCTV images of the suspect with security personnel, who looked for him, but could not locate him at the time."

Bilal was spotted in a lecture hall, attending a class when he was detained, the publication added quoting a police officer.

Further quoting police, the report added that Bilal had admitted of not being an IIT student and he was putting up in the campus illegally from June 2 to June 7, and again from June 10.

A senior professor expressing his surprise over the entire incident said, "What was his motive? Where did he live on campus all these days, was any lab data accessed... We have several unanswered questions.”