Cops puzzled by woman who waited outside Mumbai airport for 10 days

Mumbai Airport seems to be a magnet for the bizarre whether itrsquos naked intruders or lovelorn youths attempting suicide Officials now have a new cause for concern for 10 days until Tuesday a 35yearold had been a daily visitor at the domestic departure terminalRupali Nirgude along with her luggage has been a daily visitor at the domestic departure terminal Instead of catching a flight though all she does is sit outside the Jet Airways counterInstead of catching a flight all she did was to sit outside departure gate 2 with her baggage Security officials had unpleasant encounters each time they tried to question her For a long time she refused to talk to anyone until she began to accuse the officials of harassing herShe even provided false personal information and contact details to the police but they eventually figured out her identity The woman has been identified as Rupali Nirgude who until two years ago used to work for Jet Airways in the hangar areaAirport officials also revealed that before she started visiting the domestic terminal Nirgude had earlier spent six months waiting outside Gate 8 for VVIPs on the Kalina side They added that for more than a week she had simply been waiting outside the Jet Airways counter at Gate 2 with two big trolley bags and a handbagldquoWhenever we asked her why she was visiting the terminal she would give different answers each time and later on she stopped replying altogether When we asked her to leave the premises she would use abusive language and claim we were harassing herThis was the reason every officer was wary of interacting with herrdquo said an official from Mumbai Airport Another officer told this paper ldquoThe woman had become a grave concern as we could never convince her to leave the premises She would raise her voice and say that since she wasnrsquot creating any nuisance her presence shouldnrsquot be of any concernrdquoThe cops intervened on Tuesday and took Nirgude to Airport police station ldquoShe continued to ignore our questions as well However after some time she revealed that she had been doing this for more than six months and that she wants her job back We managed to get her phone number but the other contact details provided by her were also incorrectrdquo said an official cop from the Airport Police StationNirgude was not forthcoming when questioned by midday either ldquoMy issue is known to all the higher authorities and Irsquom waiting for my problem to be solved Irsquom not here to reply to everyone who questions merdquo she retorted Eventually the police learnt that Nirgude had been working as a data entry operator in the engineering department of RCC a company that provided labour to Jet Airways but she was fired two years ago for poor job performanceCops also said that her husband had abandoned her and she lives with her son and parents There is still no explanation for why she visited the airport with all her luggage every day though Senior Police Inspector BT Mukhedkar of the Airport police station told midday on Tuesday ldquoThe woman appears to be mentally disturbedWe made her go home but if she returns again we will have to take her to court We cannot allow anyone to be at the airport every day for no reasonrdquo An official close to the development said ldquoWe have to focus on the case until it concludes At least one such case arises every monthrdquo The woman did not show up at the airport yesterday