ISRO intruder remanded in police custody

Buela M Sam, who was arrested on Saturday for entering the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) premises  and staying in the guest house of the space agency’s satellite centre (ISAC) for two days by breaching security norms, was remanded to police custody for four days for questioning. She was earlier remanded to judicial custody.

Additional commissioner of police (law and order) T Suneel Kumar said police took Buela into custody on Tuesday as they need to verify how she got a fake ID which helped her gain entry into the premises of the space agency. “We also want to ascertain if she is mentally ill as claimed by her husband. He produced documents to prove his claim,” Kumar said, adding police are verifying the details she provided to ascertain her background.

“We are checking the details of her visit to Bangalore. We need to know why she came to the city and why she  rushed to the ISRO guest house and later tried to enter the space agency’s premises. We are also trying to ascertain the details of her stay and the people she contacted during the stay,” he said.

Kumar said police are not sure whether she is suffering from depression. “She claimed she has been under medication and gave inconsistent replies during initial questioning. We sought the help of medical professionals to verify her claim,” he said.

“The JB Nagar police grilled her for nearly two hours when she was arrested. But, she did not properly reply to their queries. So, we are planning to seek help from psychiatrists to further question her,” Kumar said.

According to Kumar, Buela told police that she went to Kerala for the final rites of her father who expired last week.

The police are yet to verify if she had gone to Kerala. While a police team will question her relatives in Kerala, another team will rush to Ahmedabad where she has been staying to verify if she has been mentally ill.

“The police teams have been sent to all directions for checking her background. A team has been sent to Punalur in Kollam district in Kerala from where she got the ID  card,” Kumar said.

He said the card which carried her name with a fake designation did not not contain any logo. “We asked for a copy of the ID card from the ISRO management to ascertain whether it had been forged. We are also on the lookout for the person who made the card,” he said.

Meanwhile, Buela’s husband Alex Asge reached Bangalore on Tuesday after JB Nagar issued a notice asking him to come to the city to be questioned to verify the details about Buela. Police questioned him to ascertain how long she has been suffering from mental illness and where she has underwent treatment. A police team will visit the hospitals where she was treated to understand her medical history.

“Police are also trying to verify if she came to the city to meet her acquaintance. But we can do that only with the help of medical professionals as she claims to be suffering from psychiatric problems,” he said.