Probe ordered into ‘unlikely coincidence’, 3 posted at house suspended, says Shah
Days after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi suffered a security breach at her Delhi residence, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said a high-level enquiry has been ordered into the matter and three security men have already been suspended.
Speaking about the incident during a debate on the Special Protection Group (SPG) Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Shah said the security breach at Priyanka Gandhi’s residence was an “unlikely coincidence” as the personnel there were informed that her brother, Rahul Gandhi, would be visiting in a black “Tata Safari” SUV.
Instead, a few Congress workers from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh came in a similar vehicle and were allowed into the house, he said.
Shah sought to clarify on what the Congress called a massive security breach, when on November 25 a car with a family drove into Priyanka Gandhi’s home in Delhi without being stopped.
The Congress walked out of the Rajya Sabha saying it is dissatisfied with the Home Minister’s reply on the amendment to the SPG Act. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on November 27.
According to the Home Minister, Rahul was scheduled to visit his sister Priyanka at the time, and when a black Tata Safari drove in no one stopped it. “The car had Congress worker Sharda Tyagi and three others in it, instead of Rahul Gandhi,” Shah said.
“So the car got in without security checks. This kind of coincidence never happens but still we ordered an enquiry and suspended three officers who were on duty. We did not want even a 0.001 per cent chance,” said the Home Minister.
Shah said changes in the SPG Act were not meant to target one family. “We are not opposing the parivaar (family), but parivaar-vaad (nepotism). India’s democracy cannot run like this. Why talk of only the security of the Gandhi family? The security of 130 crore Indians, including the Gandhi family, is the Government’s responsibility,” he said.