Top govt officials blamed for Vasundhara Raje security lapse rewarded
Two top government officials blamed for a security lapse during Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s recent trip to Sikar have been rewarded with plum postings even as the probe report gathered dust at the chief secretary’s office.
Two top government officials blamed for a security lapse during Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s recent trip to Sikar have been rewarded with plum postings even as the probe report gathered dust at the chief secretary’s office.
The probe report, conducted by inspector general of police (security) T Guite, was submitted to the government last week.
Hindustan Times has a copy of the confidential report sent to the chief secretary’s office.
On October 3, a group of women had managed to evade security and stage a demonstration at a helipad in Sikar district, delaying Raje’s departure by five minutes.
The CM was forced to take an alternate route after hundreds of women blocked the helipad at Kotdi village, demanding drinking water facilities.
The probe report said officers were not briefed properly which resulted in the superintendent of police — leading the CM’s cavalcade — riding in the wrong direction instead of going to the helipad.
Police personnel and traffic police staff deployed for route-lining were also missing from their positions, the report said adding there was no one to guide the cavalcade.
The report also questioned why information about the protest demonstration was conveyed from one police officer to another through mobile phone when the usual practice is to use the wireless set so that other police personnel are also alerted.
Guite’s probe, which concluded on October 18, slammed the district administration for not having prepared a “contingency route/plan” and for not making arrangements to “isolate” the helipad from common people.
However, in a recent police rejig, both the then Sikar district magistrate SS Sahota and SP Haider Ali Zaidi have been ‘rewarded’ with plum postings.
While Sahota has become the DM of Jhunjhunu, a bigger district, Zaidi has been brought to capital Jaipur as DCP (traffic).
