KOCHI: The City Police have launched an investigation to find out how the CCTV mysteriously went blank when Pedro Miguel Rapose, a 23-year-old Portuguese, trespassed into the Ernakulathappan temple on March 16 midnight.
The police started the investigation after temple authorities filed a complaint on finding all the 13 CCTV cameras on the temple premises mysteriously blacked out during the time the foreigner was there.
According to the police, they are investigating whether the trespasser had used any CCTV jammers before entering the temple. “On preliminary enquiry, we found the CCTV had gone blank two days before the incident. Maybe it was because of power failure but we are also examining whether the foreigner had used any jammers,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police K Laljy.
The City Police have taken the foreigner into custody from Goa as part of the reinvestigation. Though he was detained by the temple staff on the day he trespassed, the police let him off after verifying his travel documents, which showed he had landed in India from Iran. Rapose had then told the police he entered the temple premises in search of a place to spend the night, following which the police arranged a room in a lodge for him. He left for Goa the next day.
“We will bring him to Kochi on Friday for a detailed interrogation to find out why he trespassed into the temple. We will also check whether he has any equipment to black out the CCTV cameras,” said Laljy.