7 use fake appointment letters to enter BARC

The Tarapur Police have arrested eight people after they were allegedly found trying to enter the highly sensitive Bhabha Atomic Research Centre facility using fake appointment letters. HT reports

The Tarapur Police have arrested eight people after they were allegedly found trying to enter the highly sensitive Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) facility using fake appointment letters.

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The police said that the incident took place on August 3 when seven people approached the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre facility’s security cabin and allegedly showed their “appointment letters.”

Police Inspector S G Mullemwar told Hindustan Times that the seven persons were arrested after the security guards became suspicious and reported them to the police.

The seven people arrested were Amit Sawant, Mahesh Mhatre, Manoj Gujar, Sudam Khemkar, Shyam Mhatre, Nilkanth Sawant and Maruti Pawaskar.

“They claimed they had been appointed as security guards and security supervisors but there were several mistakes on the letters which were noticed by the security men,” Mullemwar said.

He added that some letters had spelling mistakes while some did not have a date of appointment.

“After questioning them, we also arrested Mahendra Pawar who had prepared these documents,” Mullemwar said.

He said that Pawar had worked for Nuclear Power Corporation of India limited (NPCIL) for about a year earlier.

All the accused have been booked for cheating, forgery for purpose of cheating, forging document or electronic record.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) spokesperson S K Malhotra said that Pawar could have used his knowledge of the facility to forge these letters.

“The letters had the logo of BARC but there were other discrepancies,” Malhotra said. He added that the security at the Tarapur facility has been increased.