MHA hands over CM’s security responsibility to CRPF, Delhi Police

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has handed over the charge of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s security to the Central Reserve Police Force and Delhi Police, an official said on Tuesday. This decision comes days after the Delhi police were given the complete responsibility of CM’s security following an attack on Ms. Gupta at her Civil Lines camp office on August 20 during a jan sunwayi (public hearing of grievances) event.

According to a senior official, the two forces, both under the MHA, will jointly work to ensure Z-category level protection to the CM at her residence, during her travel in Delhi and the rest of the country. The security arrangements were changed after the process of risk assessment for the CM was completed.

The armed commandos of the CRPF will be part of the close protection team that provides proximate security and ensures an ‘isolation zone’ between the VIP and the people they meet, while the Delhi police will constitute the outer ring, house protection and access control to the CM’s home or at any other location where she is present.

The changes in the security arrangements came after the CM’s risk assessment was done. According to officials, given her engagements and the threat to her safety in the recent past, the Ministry of Home Affairs, upon receiving inputs from security agencies, deemed it fit to provide her with a dual security arrangement.