Taking note of Secretary D Senthil Pandiyan’s letter to State Administration in which he had sought police protection for himself and his family due to threats reportedly received by him, the State Government has deputed a police gunner to guard Pandiyan, said State police spokesman and additional Director General of Police Ashok Kumar on Friday. 

Though only Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Secretary to the Chief Minister are generally provided with police gunners for protection, Pandiyan has also been given a gunner in view of his role in bringing to light the national highway 74 scam and the reported safety issue resulting from the threats issued to him for his role in that case.

It will be recalled here that Secretary D Senthil Pandiyan, during his tenure as the Kumaon commissioner, had overseen the inquiry and submitted a report to the State government regarding the on Rs 300 crore national highway-74 scam in Udham Singh Nagar district. The scam reportedly orchestrated and also brought to light during the tenure of the previous Congress state government, has since then become a major issue with the Congress demanding a probe into it by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Though the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had spoken in the past of getting the scam probed by the CBI, the state government has been conducting the probe at its own level.  While the Congress has been accusing the BJP state government of trying to shield the corrupt involved in the national highway 74 scam, the BJP has maintained that it is committed to expose corruption and punish the guilty.

In the meanwhile, Pandiyan had recently written a letter to the principal secretary (personnel), seeking police protection from the state administration for himself and his family. The letter was sent to the principal secretary (home) from the office of the principal secretary (personnel) on Tuesday evening. After the letter was received, principal secretary (home) Anand Vardhan had written to Dehradun district magistrate SA Murugesan and senior superintendent of police Nivedita Kukreti, a copy of which was sent to the police headquarters, asking for the formation of a committee to provide security to Pandiyan. He has now been provided an armed guard by the police.