Nepalese woman held for illegal stay at Pune military college

PUNE: A 26-year-old Nepalese woman has been arrested for allegedly living illegally on the premises of College of Military Engineering (CME) in Pune, police said on Wednesday. According to the police, Elisa Manoj Pandey, who was arrested on Tuesday, had been living in the official quarters of a captain rank officer on the premises of CME since March this year.

"The woman has been arrested under section 45 (house- trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) of the IPC and relevant provisions of the Bombay Police Act and Official Secrets Act (OSA)," senior inspector Shankar Awtade of Bhosari police station said.

As per the FIR, the accused had allegedly jumped the parameter wall of the establishment on March 23 and has since been living at the captain's official residence in Gents Officers Quarters.


The woman had met the captain at a hotel in Koregaon Park in February and they knew each other, police sources said.

"We received a complaint against the woman from one Kadir Hajwani, who had alleged that she had cheated him of Rs 85 lakh in business. During the probe, we found out that the woman was staying on CME premises," said Awtade.

The OSA had been invoked against the accused, as she was found to be living in a restricted military establishment, said Krishna Prakash, commissioner of police, Pimpri Chinchwad.

"The woman stayed on the premises with the help of a captain rank officer. We need to find out what she was doing there and whether her presence on the restricted campus has posed any danger to the military establishment and army officials," he added.