US President Barack Obama’s State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh included a third gatecrasher who had managed to attach himself to the Indian delegation and boarded its bus to sneak into White House in November, the Secret Service has said.
Though the Secret Service has not yet released the name of this “uninvited” member, the ‘Washington Post’ has identified him as Carlos Allen, a local party promoter.
The Indian Embassy in Washington has, however, denied that any such “uninvited individual” was part of the country’s delegation. “No such person was a member of the Indian delegation. The Embassy of India did not arrange his access,” the Spokesman said.
In a statement released yesterday, the Secret Service said investigations into the security surrounding the event revealed that a third individual besides the attention-hungry couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, entered the State Dinner.
“It appears at this point that the subject travelled from a local hotel, where the official Indian delegation was staying and arrived at the dinner with the group, which was under the responsibility of Department of State.
“This individual went through all required security measures along with the rest of the official delegation at the hotel, and boarded a bus/van with the delegation guests en route to the White House,” the Secret Service has said.
