Bangalore,March 17 :A guard at ISRO’s Indian Deep Space Network facility in Byalalu near Bangalore claimed on Tuesday that two gunmen opened fire at him, fuelling fears of a terror attack. But the police suspect the guard was hallucinating and cooked up the “ firing”. The Central Industrial Security Force ( CISF) constable, Jadhav Bhagwan, claimed he fired back, forcing the attackers to flee.
No one was injured in the shootout that took place at 3.20 am outside the main gate of the ISRO facility, 40 km from Bangalore, according to the CISF report on the “ shootout” to the Centre.
The Indian Deep Space Network facility was set up in 2007 to receive data and images from the country’s first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan- 1. Launched on October 22, 2008, Chandrayaan orbited the moon till August 30, 2009. The facility remains ISRO’s command and control centre for future deep space missions.
The constable’s version goes like this.
At 3.20 am on Tuesday, Bhagwan’s attention was drawn to the barking of stray dogs. He was on duty at the main gate of the Byalalu facility.
He spotted two men nearly 50ft away.They were wearing police uniforms. One of them was standing on a mound while the other was sitting there. He said the gunmen were peering into the facility through binoculars.
When they came near the gate, he confronted them. At this, the gunmen fired at him from pistols. They fired twice. Bhagwan returned the fire, firing two rounds first and then, changing position, three more rounds at the gunmen.
The constable claimed the gunmen then fled under the cover of darkness. As they were fleeing, he ran along the facility’s perimeter wall, firing three more rounds, emptying eight rounds in all.But was the constable hallucinating? The Bangalore Police feel he was and the “ shootout” was fabricated. “ How come neither Jadhav nor the assailants were injured when 10 rounds were exchanged?” a police officer asked.
Bangalore’s additional director- general of police A. R. Infant said: “ Our day- long investigations indicate no shots were fired from outside on the constable.There are no traces of exchange of gunfire either on the scene of crime.” The CISF has refused to hand over Bhagwan to the police for interrogation.He has been kept away from the media.
Another senior police officer said it was a clear case of hallucination. “ When security personnel are on night shifts for longer periods of time, hallucinations are common. Many security personnel report such incidents under stress. But here, the constable went ahead and opened fire on assailants who were never there. The evidence is clear.” The police pointed out a number of inconsistencies in Jadhav’s statement.
“ The constable claimed he fired eight rounds at the gunmen. But we found only five empty cartridges. If the gunmen had indeed opened fire on him, there would have been physical marks on the ground, compound or gate of the ISRO facility.
Our forensic experts did not find any.Besides, the empty cartridges of bullets apparently fired by the gunmen have not been found so far,” Infant said.
The absence of CCTVs at the main gates of the Byalalu facility has surprised the police. “ The identity of the assailants, if there were any, could have been easily established had the ISRO provided CCTV facility,” a police officer said.
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