New Delhi: The Centre will provide “Y category” security cover of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to Vivek Agnihotri, the director of The Kashmir Files, for protection across India, people familiar with the matter said. The Y category cover involves the deployment of four to five armed commandos in close proximity of the protectee.
The filmmaker was receiving threats on social media following the release of his film based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir in 1990.The movie, which has crossed ₹100 crore at the box office, stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi in lead roles.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have applauded the movie for showing the struggles and pain of Kashmiri Pandits, who left Kashmir following attacks by the Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The central intelligence agencies carried out a threat perception and recommended that Agnihotri be given a VIP security cover, said an official cited above.
The CRPF currently provides security to 117 people in Z+, Z, Y, Y+, and X categories.The protectee include Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among others.