The police are looking for a person who possibly helped to make a fake ID which Buela M. Sam used to breach security at two Indian Space Research Organisation establishments here last week. Posing as a scientist, the 40-year-old woman stayed for two days in a guesthouse on the high security ISRO campus on old Airport Road.
She was caught when she tried to move into the Yelahanka campus on Saturday.
Additional Commissioner (Law and Order) T. Sunil Kumar on Tuesday said the ID card, which bore her name and fake designation and address, did not have a logo. “We have asked for a copy of the ID card from the ISRO management to ascertain whether the card was fabricated.” Meanwhile, the police took Ms. Sam back into their custody for four days for questioning.
“We are checking details of her visit to Bangalore, where she stayed and the people she possibly contacted,” Mr. Kumar said.
“We are not sure whether she is suffering from depression,” he said, adding she claimed that she was under medication. Her replies were inconsistent. The police have sought the help of medical professionals in the probe.
Police teams had been sent in all directions to check her background. A team was sent to Kollam, where Ms. Sam got the ID card made. Her husband has come to Bangalore on a notice issued by the Jeevanbimanagar police.
City Police Commissioner B.G. Jyothi Prakash Mirji said: “We want to know whether she took somebody’s help in creating the ID and in entering the ISRO guesthouse. If required, we will seek to extend her custody.”
CISF probe
For its part, the Central Industrial Security Force has initiated an internal inquiry into the security lapse. Personnel who were on duty at the entry and exit points on the ISRO campus on old Airport Road were asked to give an explanation. A CISF team is combing the entire area to track the places Ms. Sam visited and the persons she met on the campus.
Senior officials including Deputy Inspector-General Sanjay Prakash, who is in charge of ISRO security, are not available for comment.
Kollam Staff Reporter reports:
The Kollam police said Ms. Sam was a native of Punalur town. She had been undergoing treatment in the town and in Ahmedabad for depression.
A police team from Bangalore is expected to camp at Punalur for two days for the probe, a senior police officer said.
Ms. Sam’s ancestral home is on Netaji Road at Punalur, where her brother lives. Her sister too lives in the town.
According to information gathered by the police, Ms. Sam was admitted to a private hospital at Punalur for over a fortnight in July 2009. Again, she underwent treatment there for depression in 2011.
People known to her at Punalur told the police that she had been posing as a senior scientist at some research institution.
On September 11, she was at Punalur to attend the funeral of her father Samson. The police said she stayed in a hotel in the town. She did not stay with her siblings even during her earlier visits.
She left Punalur two days after the funeral. But people do not know what exactly she did at Punalur during the two days.
The Punalur police have questioned the hotel staff. The police suspect that the ID card was fabricated in a digital studio on the outskirts of Kollam.
