Shankar Rao wants security cover of 32 gunmen

A day after the Director General of Police (DGP) V Dinesh Reddy had stated that adequate security was provided for Handloom and Textile Minister P Shankar Rao, the latter made mockery of the security cover given to him.

The minister arrived at the State Assembly amidst tight security of six armed personnel on Sunday to address a media conference. He was sarcastic about DGPs statement and repeatedly sought the media persons to look at his 32 security personnel. The minister also said that there was no Rakshak vehicle escorting him as stated by the DGP.

He, however, hastened to say that Dinesh Reddy was his good friend and he was only reading out the script given by the head of the government, implying that the DGP was speaking at the instance of the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Joint Commissioner of Police, coordination and security, Kumar Vishwajeeth has said that the security cover given for the minister was more than what was required. “There will be 16 armed personnel at any given moment including Personal Security Officers (PSOs), armed mobile escort and armed guards at the two houses owned by the minister,” he said.

Giving the breakup of the security apparatus the joint commissioner said that the City Security Wing has given four PSOs while the Intelligence Security Wing has given two PSOs and City Armed Reserve (CAR) will provide mobile escort and house guard. A five member guard is posted at each of his two houses and six armed personnel will cover him round the clock. “We think that is more than what is required for him,” the police official said.

To a question the joint commissioner said that the minister did not mention any specific threat but only talked about some threatening calls he has received. “Officials met him thrice to talk to him in detail to assess the threat perception and we did not even verify the threat calls. He is a cabinet minister and we believed what he has told us and provided the more than the required security cover,” he said. Apart from this, local police will provide security whenever he visits some place or addresses a meeting, the official said.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer has said that the minister was unnecessarily making fuss as there was no threat for him at all. “He is part of the government and we don’t understand why he goes on blaming the government for no reason.”