Cops miss out ‘threat’, leave VIPs vulnerable

The Delhi Police overlooked ‘Threat’, and some of the capital’s VIPs felt very threatened for the 10 days.

The Delhi Police overlooked ‘Threat’, and some of the capital’s VIPs felt very threatened for the 10 days.

HT Image

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), after reviewing the ‘Y’ category security arrangements, ordered immediate withdrawal or scaling down of the 126 protectees under this category.

But the Delhi Police went ahead and trimmed the security of the ‘Y Threat’ category VIPs too.

One such VIP told the Hindustan Times that he felt so threatened that he almost stopped venturing out with the “depleted security cover”.

When ‘Y Threat’ protectees’ protests reached the MHA, it asked the Delhi Police to rectify the mistake. And the VIPs were put back under the usual thick security cover a few days back.

Vishwanath Chaturvedi, the Uttar Pradesh Congress leader who filed a disproportionate assets case in the Supreme Court against Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2007, is one such ‘Y Threat’ protectee.

Chaturvedi said, “Three personal security officers (PSOs) of mine were withdrawn. I wrote to the Home Ministry against this and also lodged a verbal protest.”

The “level of threat”, according to Chaturvedi, was so high that if in case he had to step out of his home, he refused to travel outside Lutyen’s zone.

“Last year too, they withdrew my security cover as a result of which I had to stay put at home for 27 days,” he Chaturvedi said.

Others on the list include Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sushma Swaraj, Telugu Desam Party leader Yerran Naidu and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Giriraj Kishore..”

Earlier this month Uttrakhand Governor Margaret Alva, former chief of National Technical Research Organisation R S Bedi and Delhi Police’s Special Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, lost ‘Y’ category security cover.