Bangalore:
A woman in Bangalore has been arrested after she was found carrying a fake ID card that declared she was a senior scientist with the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) in Bangalore.
She has been sent to jail till October 6.
Sources at ISRO say the matter is being treated as a major security breach because the 44-year-old roamed around unnoticed at the high-security ISRO headquarters for almost four hours. She was accosted on the first floor when she tried to enter a meeting on Earth Observation Satellites, attended by some of the senior-most officials on campus. Sources say the woman, using her fake ID card, managed to get past three layers of security.
Both security points are manned by guards from the Central Industrial Security Force or CISF. Her ID card enabled her to stay at the official ISRO guest house, 10 km from the campus, for two days earlier this month; problematic given that her identity card showed her as an employee of the ISRO Mangalore unit - there is no such facility.
The police say she did not access any crucial information or documents, but ISRO has ordered an internal inquiry.
The woman, originally from Ahmedabad, is being treated for depression and had been missing for 10 days, according to her husband. The police say it will investigate his statement.
The police say she got her ID card made during a recent visit to Kerala.