Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Sabotage suspected behind break-in

Thiruvananthapuram: The police said the motive behind the break-in at the Kerala University’s Bioinformatics Centre at Kariyavattom early on Sunday could be either sabotage or theft of research data.

A police investigator said the intruders had stolen electronic equipment and Rs.10,000 in cash to create an impression that their main motive was theft. Strangely, the “burglars” had searched the Centre’s password protected computers in vain for scientific information.

The police suspect that at least three persons had broken into the Centre. They have lifted eight finger prints from the scene of crime.

Significantly, a bioinformatics firm involved in the development of new drugs uses the Centre’s research and laboratory facilities. The Centre is also involved in prestigious scientific projects, some of them funded by foreign nations, including Japan.

Earlier, several politically motivated posters had appeared on the campus lampooning the Centre’s activities and its association with similar research facilities in foreign countries.

The police suspect that the activists of two different student organisations, one religious fundamentalist in outlook and the other linked to Maoist outfits, were behind the poster campaign. An official said the police were verifying some activists of these organisations to find out whether they had any role in the break-in.

There were two guards at the Centre, at least on record, when the break-in occurred. The police were also investigating their role. The police said that several outsiders, including suspicious characters, were staying at the student’s hostel on the campus. The police were collecting intelligence on them and their hosts.

The police were yet to solve a similar mysterious break-in that had occurred at the Centre’s old premise in the early hours of September 11, 2007. The intruders searched computers and rummaged through cupboards and shelves looking for research data stored in different formats. They also stole two video cameras and Rs.12,000 from the centre. The police had lifted six finger prints from the scene of crime. An official said they would compare the prints with those lifted from the scene on Sunday.

A fire had broken out at the centre’s laboratory in 2005, prompting the police to suspect that the incident could have been a sabotage attempt.

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