The News Minute| November 9, 2014| 12.50 pm IST
The Director of Intelligence Bureau has been directed by the Home Ministry to order probe into some glaring security lapses at Varanasi. The lapses occured as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was participating in the Ganga clean up drive as part ‘Swacch Bharat’ initiative.
Several security cameras and monitors in the control room failed to function, according to an NDTV report, affecting the security surveillance of the Prime Minister’s surroundings.
This is the second such incident occurring in less than fortnight. Earlier, during the swearing –in ceremony of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Wankhede stadium, a man breached the three-tier security barrier and shared the dias with the Prime Minister and other senior officals of the BJP, said a report by The Indian Express.
( Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting at the Maa Anandmayee Ashram, in Varanasi on Nov. 8, 2014 )
The man, Anil Mishra, claims to be an expelled member of BJP Bihar unit and clicked pictures with Amit Shah, Uddhav Thackeray and the Prime Minister himself and posted them on social media.
( Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, the Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu and the Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari during the swearing-in ceremony of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai )
The Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria ordered an inquiry into the incident. The man, arrested on November 6 was booked under IPC sections 170 (personating a public servant) and 447 (Punishment for criminal trespass and sent to judicial custody until November 11.
The two incidents require urgent introspection over poor security arrangements of the Prime Minister to prevent future occurrences.