Hyderabad:
There is no clue yet about the identity of the two men whose movements caused a serious scare at one of India's most-sensitive and highly-guarded zones.
At 3.30 on Tuesday morning, a guard noticed two men prowling around the Bangalore headquarters of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
"One of them opened fire on him. The sentry retaliated and he shot eight rounds. After that these two persons escaped. We have strengthened security," says Bite Kamal Pant, Inspector General, Central Range.
Eight rounds of bullets were shot by the security guard, but investigating agencies say there's no evidence that the outsiders opened fire. (
Read and Watch: Shootout near ISRO centre in Bangalore)
"It seems to be some kind of an amateurish attempt...with shooting from a distance, presumably with some sort of country pistols. But we'll see...nothing to be alarmed about," said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. When asked if this was an attempt at a terror attack, he said, "At the moment, you can only call it as an attack...whether it was terrorist or somebody else, we will know later."
Officials at ISRO say there was no real breach of security because the intruders were not able to enter the facility, which houses the Indian Deep Space Network and tracking station for ISRO's satellite missions.
The Indian Deep Space Network, commissioned in 2008 at Byalalu village near Bangalore, is the ground segment for providing deep space support for India's first Lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1.
The technical facilities in IDSN include a 32-metre Deep Space Antenna, an 18-metre Antenna Terminal, an 11-metre Antenna Terminal, Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) and a Technical Services complex.
The IDSN is the first of its kind project in India that provides ISRO the capability to handle deep space missions and also provides cross support to other deep space missions of external space agencies because of its inter-operable features and sophisticated capabilities.
Reasons to worry:- One of India most sophisticated computer centres
- Byalalu Centre costs 100 crore
- Houses all of Chandrayaan data
- Houses India's largest dish antenna, 32m in diameter
- Antenna used for deep space communications
Like other high-profile institutions, ISRO is a potential terror target - and that no doubt leaves those who work here, as well as the government, on edge.