india

Updated: Mar 26, 2019 21:24 IST

The Kerala police on Tuesday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe an unidentified flying object (UFO), suspected to be drone, which was sighted multiple times over the coastal areas of the state capital in the last few days.

On Monday night it was sighted again over the state police headquarters and the famed shrine Sree Padmanabha Swami temple, sending the cops into a tizzy.

One of the richest temples in the world Sree Padmanabha Swami shrine reportedly carries wealth amounting to Rs one lakh crore in its underground vaults. More than 300 commandos have been guarding the temple since 2011 after one of its secret vaults was opened following a Supreme Court order.

“We view this incident seriously and sought the help of central agencies. We have formed a special investigation team to probe this and making a list of all who are using drones,” said Thiruvananthapuram police commissioner Sanjay Kumar Gurudin. He said the object was spotted several times in the last one week.

Police have asked all drone camera users to submit details of their equipment and they suspect some anti-social elements have carried out the flights to create panic. Meanwhile, a Tamil Nadu-based agency which is carrying out a survey for a railway line connecting the upcoming Vizinjam port to Thiruvananthapuram said one of their drones lost control and later it was retrieved. But they said it happened last week. Police have summoned officials of the agency.

“Drones are usually used in private functions like marriages. But they have no night vision facilities and can fly only up to 100-300 metres. But what we sighted reportedly has night vision facilities and it was sighted in five-seven kms radius,” said a senior officer adding it was spotted flying closely to some of the vital installations like Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Southern Air Command and Sree Padmanabha Swami temple.

Military intelligence and southern air command are also closely monitoring the incident, said the senior official. However, sources with the air command said their radars did not detect any unusual activity.