Four of the alleged poachers managed to escape and two were caught.A woman from Nepal has been arrested and charged under the Officials Secrets Act (OSA ) and sections of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly living illegally on the premises of the College of Military Engineering (CME), a high-security defence area in Dapodi.
Police have identified the accused as Elisa Manoj Pande Khadka (26), who is from Nawalparasi in Nepal’s Lumbini.
Police are also investigating the role of an Indian Army officer of captain rank, in whose quarters the woman has been living for the last few months. According to the FIR, a complaint was received from one Imran Abdul Kadir Hajwani of Bhavani Peth against Khadka. Hajwani alleged that the accused cheated him of Rs 85 lakh with false assurances of making him a partner in a business in the United Arab Emirates. Initial investigation revealed that Khadka was living on the CME premises.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Police contacted CME authorities and sought their help in the investigation. A CME team was provided for assisting the police. During searches in CME, they found Khadka at the residential quarters of an Army Captain.
Khadka told police that she entered the CME premises by jumping over the wall in Phugewadi area around 11.30 pm on March 23 this year, and has been residing inside the Army Captain’s quarter since then.
Police said Khadka did not reply properly to their questions about why she had entered and continued to stay on the CME premises. In the FIR, police have mentioned that they believe the woman may have been living on the CME premises to “cause a threat to the life of Army officers and Army property.”
During the probe, police confirmed that Khadka had met the Army Captain at a pub in Koregaon Park sometime before March. Police are also investigating the Army Captain’s role in this case. Meanwhile, police initially booked Khadka under sections 453 (house trespass) and section 120 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951. Later, sections of the OSA were also invoked.
“We have arrested the Nepali woman. She was produced before the court on Tuesday. The court has remanded her to police custody till November 12… An officer of Captain rank of the Indian Army has also been named as an accused in this case. We have sought permission from Army authorities to question him,” said Senior Police Inspector Shankat Awatade.
Police said the woman has also stayed in other countries in the past. Police are probing how and why she came to India.