Fake woman trainee stays at IAS academy for 6 mths

 Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, April 1

In a major security breach, a woman masquerading as a trainee IAS officer stayed at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie, a place among top targets of terrorists, for over six months without the knowledge of the authorities.

Sources said Ruby Chaudhry, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, was living in the staff quarter of a security guard since September 2014 and had easy access to various departments of the academy, including the library, with fake identity cards. She also got several books issued in the name of other employees.

A case was registered with the local police on March 31. The security guard has been placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against him for subletting the government quarter. SSP Pushpak Jyoti said a special operation group team had been formed to probe the matter and a team had been sent to Muzaffarnagar to arrest Chaudhry.

Several VVIP guests, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, had visited the academy 

during Chaudhry’s stay on the premises.

When the matter came to fore, the academy administration asked her to leave without questioning her further.

In a press release issued today, LBSNAA Joint Director Dushyant Nariala said an incident of security guard Deb Singh subletting his allotted staff quarter to a woman was brought to the notice of the Deputy Director of security on March 27. 

Two days later, she reportedly entered the academy with the guard’s reference and produced before the Deputy Director I/C. Chaudhry reportedly told the authorities that she had been staying at Deb Singh’s quarter since January 16 as a paying guest and had visited the academy earlier as well. After preliminary inquiry, she was asked to leave. Further investigation revealed that Chaudhry had been posing as an SDM, an IAS OT and an employee of the Textile Ministry to Deb Singh. An ID card reportedly issued by the Administrative Training Institute, Nainital, was seized from her room. Nariala said an in-house committee had been formed to probe the issue.

However, the complaint filed by Satyavir Singh, a security officer at the academy, at the Mussoorie police station yesterday states a different story. The complaint reads that Chaudhry was staying in the campus since September 2014 and not January 16, as suggested in the press note released by the deputy director today. Meanwhile, Station Officer HS Bhandari in Mussoorie has been transferred elsewhere, while the academy security officer has been sent on a long leave. Bhandari said his transfer was a routine exercise and was not related to the case.