NEW DELHI: After downgrading the security cover of many VIPs, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday clarified that the comprehensive security review of VIPS has been done to rationalize the deployment security personnel. Over 1,300 security personnel from different forces like CRPF, CISF, NSG and Delhi Police have been freed of VIP security duties after a review of security cover of about 350 individuals, officials said on Wednesday.
About 3,000 personnel of these Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will still be part of the VIP security setup of the central government, a senior MHA official said. A number of those who have been taken out of the ‘central list’ of VIP security will be secured by state police forces. In certain cases, when such a protectee is in Delhi, the Delhi police will take care of their security requirements, officials said.
Officials insisted that the latest review is a regular exercise that is undertaken after taking into account the threat perception reports of such individuals, prepared by central security and intelligence agencies, adding that the review was long overdue.
The MHA on Monday conducted the first full-scale review of VIP protectees after the Modi 2.0 government took charge. The top-level ‘Z+’ category NSG cover of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, ‘Z’ cover of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, BJP MP and former minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former BJP members Kirti Azad and Shatrughan Sinha, newly-appointed Himachal Pradesh Governor Kalraj Mishra, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, two granddaughters and a grandson of former president Pranab Mukherjee, daughter of former prime minister Manmohan Singh has been taken out of the central list. Security of several others was scaled down after the review.
State police security
The individuals taken out of the ‘central list’ of VIP security will be secured by state police forces. When in Delhi, The city police will take care of it