Home Minister Amit Shah told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that a high-level inquiry has been initiated and three security personnel were suspended following the November 25 incident when a black SUV allegedly trespassed into the Lodhi Road bungalow of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Giving details of the incident, Mr. Shah told the House that the security personnel were informed that her brother Rahul Gandhi would be visiting her in a black ‘Tata Safari SUV’ but some Congress workers from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh arrived at the same time in a similar vehicle and were allowed to go through the main gate without a security check. Several members had linked the security breach to the removal of SPG cover.
Mr. Shah said the security cover of the Gandhi family had not been removed but replaced with Z plus CRPF cover with the same number of personnel and vehicles.
He was speaking on the Special Protection Group (SPG) Amendment Bill, 2019. “Robert Vadra (Priyanka’s husband) and Rahul Gandhi (brother) being family members are exempted from security check. A message was conveyed to security personnel that Rahul Gandhi would be visiting her in a black Tata Safari. It was a coincidence that at the same time, a similar vehicle with a Congress party worker Sharda Tyagi and our other arrived at the residence and they were allowed to go inside without security check….so that such coincidence is not repeated, a high level inquiry has been initiated,” Mr. Shah said. He added that such communication on security related matters are a secret and ideally the protectee should have written a confidential letter to the CRPF Director General and not shared the information with the press. “If they want to do politics over it, then it is a different thing,” he said.
Last month, Centre removed the SPG security cover of the Gandhi family including Ms. Vadra and replaced it with Z plus security cover of CRPF. Both CRPF and Delhi Police are deployed at her residence.
Ms. Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra had termed the incident a “very big” security lapse and alleged that the removal of the Gandhi family’s SPG cover was a ‘political’ move.
“Our security is not important as much as the security of the women in the country,” Mr. Vadra said.
