Following a comprehensive review of nearly 350 VIPs including politicians and editors, as many as 1,300 trained men of the Central paramilitary have been freed from roles securing important personalities.
The 1,300 commandos drawn from paramilitary forces like CRPF, CISF, NSG and Delhi Police stand to be relieved after this review and will be engaged in the roles of their respective forces.
On Monday, the Union Home Ministry conducted a comprehensive security review of about 350 Central protectees, officials said.
However, about 3,000 personnel of the Central paramilitary forces will still be part of the VIP security setup of the Central Government.
A number of those who have been removed from the Central List will be secured by state police forces. In certain cases, when such a protectee is in Delhi, the Delhi police will provide cover to such people, they said.
Review is a regular exercise undertaken by the Government after taking into account the threat perception reports of such individuals, prepared by central security and intelligence agencies, they said, adding the review was long overdue.
The top level ‘Z+’ category NSG cover of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, ‘Z’ cover of former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, BJP MP and former minister in Modi Government Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former BJP members Kirti Azad and Shatrughan Sinha, newly-appointed Himachal Pradesh Governor Kalraj Mishra, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, two granddaughters and a grandson of former president Pranab Mukherjee, daughter and grandson of former prime minister Manmohan Singh as also editors of Punjab Kesari, Samachar Plus and Ananda Bazar Patrika have removed from the Central List or security category has been downgraded.
Security of a number of other such personalities was also scaled down after the review.