Congress claims serious breach in security of Rahul; MHA denies

Congress on Thursday claimed a serious breach in the security of party president Rahul Gandhi and has written to Union Minister Rajnath Singh citing a possible threat to his life.

In its letter dated April 10, the Congress claimed that a green laser was pointed at least seven times at Rahul Gandhi's head, during his media interaction which was held after he filed his nomination papers from the Amethi parliamentary constituency.

The MHA, however, stated that it had received no such letter from the Congress and that it had conducted an investigation and found that the "green light" shown in the clipping was from a mobile phone used by the AICC photographer, who was video graphing the press interaction of Rahul Gandhi near the collectorate at Amethi.

Congress President is under the protection by the SPG.

The letter signed by Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "A perusal of his media interaction will reflect that a laser (green) was pointed at his head, intermittently on at least 7 separate occasions in a short period; including twice at his temple on the right side of the head."

The letter goes on to state that, various people including security personnel after taking a look at the laser light had stated that it could have possibly emanating from a weapon such as a laser gun, which made it a cause for serious alarm and points towards a possible breach in the security of its president.

"A perusal of the video (Annexure A1) by various persons including former security personnel leads to a prima facie conclusion that this laser could emanate from a potential weapon such as a sniper gun," the letter said adding that a clipping of Rahul Gandhi's media interaction was also attached.

The Congress has urged the Home Ministry to take immediate action in the matter by boosting Rahul's security and also conduct a thorough investigation and nuetralise the threat,if any of this alleged security lapse during the Lok Sabha election season.

The Congress in its letter stated that India has already seen the brutal assassination of two former Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi at the hands of terror forces and even the possibility of an attack on Rahul was a scary one.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, however, stated that it had received no such letter from the Congress.

MHA in a statement said that it had conducted an investigation and found that the "green light" shown in the clipping was found to be that of a mobile phone used by the AICC photographer, who was video graphing the press interaction of Rahul Gandhi near the collectorate at Amethi.

The MHA statement reads, "MHA has not yet received any letter regarding the alleged breach in security of Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi. However, as soon as MHA's attention was drawn to reports that there was an incident of "green light" being pointed at him yesterday in Amethi, the Director (SPG) was asked to verify the factual position.

"Director (SPG) has informed MHA that they have gone through the Video Clipping of the incident very closely. The "green light" shown in the clipping was found to be that of a mobile phone used by the AICC photographer, who was video graphing the impromptu press interaction of Shri Rahul Gandhi near the collectorate at Amethi," the MHA said.

"Director (SPG) has also informed MHA that this position was conveyed to the personal staff of Shri Rahul Gandhi. Director (SPG) has confirmed that there was no security implication whatsoever" the MHA statement added.