Dr Singh always cooperated with security, showed concern: Ex-IPS officer

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh always cooperated with his security team and showed concern and care towards the personnel deployed for his safety, recollected a retired IPS officer who was entrusted with the responsibility of the outer ring of his security details.

Recalling one such instance, Sunil Garg, who served with the Delhi Police's security unit for six years, told PTI that during a cold winter, the former prime minister asked him to arrange tea and coffee for the personnel deployed around his house.

"I had gone to meet him about some issue when he asked me about our staff deployed around the PM's house. He said, 'Always take care of them and keep giving them tea or coffee'," Garg recalled.

"It was just a two-minute meeting," he added.

A 1992-batch IPS officer, Sunil Garg headed the Delhi Police's PM Security unit for six years, serving as Additional Commissioner and Joint Commissioner until 2014.

He retired last year from the post of Special Commissioner in the Delhi Police's training unit.

Garg said there were several other instances where Singh showed concern for the staff deployed in his security unit.

The prime minister's security is managed by the SPG (Special Protection Group), but Delhi Police personnel, along with other paramilitary force personnel, is deployed in the outer ring.

Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, passed away on Thursday night at the age of 92.

Garg described Singh as a calm and composed man who always followed the protocol and cooperated with security personnel.

"I never saw him panic. Even during threat alerts issued by agencies, he never panicked and always cooperated with the security protocol," Garg said.

"He would always meet his security personnel with a smiling face. Once, he even asked me about the work and functioning of Delhi Police," Garg said.

The officer, who was entrusted with the responsibility of securing the outer ring, met and spoke with Singh about four-five times over those six years.

"When I received the President's Police Medal in 2008, Singh himself pinned the medal on my chest at an informal ceremony to honour me. I was accompanied by my wife at the time," he said.