Manmohan Singh kin’s security downgraded

The decisions to rationalise VIP security cover were taken last month after Union Home Secretary L C Goyal.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s son-in-law, former NSA Shivshankar Menon and former CBI director A P Singh are among the VIPs whose security cover has either been downgraded or withdrawn by the government.

The Union Home Ministry reviewed the security status of people being given security cover by the central armed forces and stripped at least five former IPS officers of it. The “Z” category security cover for former Army chief N C Vij, who is one of the directors in Vivekananda International Foundation, has also been withdrawn.

The decisions to rationalise VIP security cover were taken last month after Union Home Secretary L C Goyal chaired a meeting of the Protection Review Group and the Security Categorisation Committee, which also has Intelligence Bureau on board. A “Z plus” protectee is provided security cover by at least 40 commandos at given point of time.

“Only one name has been added to the list and we have pruned the list as far as possible. A judicious use of the central police forces is required and they cannot be diverted from their core duties,” said a senior MHA official. The new list was cleared by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Union Minister for Fertiliser and Chemicals Ananth Kumar is the only addition to the list of “Z” category ministers.

The security cover to Manmohan Singh’s son-in-law Ashok Patnaik, a 1983 batch IPS officer currently posted with IB, has been downgraded to Z from “Z plus”.

Among officers who have been stripped of their VIP security cover are former Delhi police commissioners Y S Dadwal, Neeraj Kumar and former NSG DG J K Dutt. The security cover of 1984 riots accused Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler has been downgraded to Z. Former NSA Shivshankar’s Menon security has been downgraded from Z to Y category.

Source:: Indian Express