The Ministry of Home Affairs has accorded the ‘Z’ scale of security to Tamil Nadu BJP president, K. Annamalai.
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According to police sources, the security scale of the IPS officer-turned-politician was increased from the ‘Y’ scale to the ‘Z’ scale after a threat assessment was done by the Intelligence Bureau.
The BJP leader will be now protected by 28 commandos drawn from the Central Armed Police Force and the Security branch CID of the Tamil Nadu police. Escort vehicles will also be provided by the State police, apart from armed guards at his residence, office and at any other place of stay during tours, the sources said.
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The MHA had, in April last year, enhanced the security of Mr. Annamalai from ‘X’ scale to ‘Y’ scale with Personal Security Officers deployed from the Central Reserve Police Force.
While no information is available on the details of the specific threat perceived by the intelligence agencies, police sources said Mr. Annamalai has been actively voicing opinions against “religious fundamentalism” in Tamil Nadu, particularly after the car bomb blast in Coimbatore on October 23, 2022.
The State has also witnessed a series of Molotov Cocktail attacks on offices/residences of Hindu organisation leaders in the recent months. In February last year, petrol-filled bottles, with a wick lit in one of them, were hurled at ‘Kamalalayam’ the State BJP headquarters located at T. Nagar in Chennai.
Mr. Annamalai, who has been making allegations of corruption against the Ministers of the ruling DMK, had announced that he would undertake a padayatra to cover all the 234 Assembly constituencies in the State in April. The padayatra is planned to last for about a year will take place in two phases, the sources said.