ISRO chairman, Maharashtra MP Navneet Rana given VIP security cover

Maharashtra MP Navneet Rana and ISRO chairman S Somanath have been provided a central armed VIP security cover by the Union government, officials said on Friday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) accorded the security cover last week to the two after accepting separate recommendations of central intelligence agencies that favoured armed security of paramilitary commandos to them in view of possible security threats to them.

Navneet Rana, a member of Lok Sabha from the Amravati seat of Maharashtra, has been accorded 'Y' category central cover that would entail about three to four armed commandos of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to move with her, they said.

On Friday, the Mumbai police issued a notice to her and her MLA husband Ravi Rana, asking them not to disrupt the law and order situation as they plan to recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's residence here on April 23.

The lawmaker couple is known to have an unofficial understanding with the BJP.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath has also been accorded a 'Y+' category security cover.

The rocket scientist will have about four to six armed commandos round-the-clock with him whenever he travels to any part of the country, officials said.

The CISF, that has traditionally provided proximate security to previous ISRO chiefs and also guards the main complex of the institution in Bengaluru, has been tasked with the job.

Somanath, who played a key role in developing the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III, or GSLV Mk III, was appointed the ISRO chief in January this year by the central government.

Before the current assignment, he was the director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.