An inquiry has been ordered into the reported denial of permission to the Tamil Nadu DGP by an official of Prime Minister's Special Protection Group to enter the VVIP area at the airport here yesterday.
Official sources said state Protocol officer Anu George has been asked to inquire into the incident, assisted by local police officials, and file a report.
The SPG official, who prevented the DGP from entering the VVIP area, has also been asked to explain why the state's top police official was prevented from coming into the airport to welcome Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, they said.
The sources said 10 persons, including Chief Secretary Sheila Balakrishnan, DGP Ramanujam,Police Commissioner Shylesh Kumar Yadav, Mayor Jaya, Kumar, MP, Collector Jayasree, Governor Rosiah,and Ministers O.Panneerselvam, Senthil Balaji, Poonachi, had been given permission to welcome the Prime Minister.
The DGP got delayed as he waited for others to be checked and when his turn came, the SPG official stopped him and told him that only those with passes could enter, the sources said.
The SPG official refused to budge even after Shylesh Kumar Yadav pointed out that Ramanujam is DGP, following which he went back to the VIP room.
Meanwhile, top SPG officials, who got wind of what happened, apologised to the DGP and persuaded him to come out and welcome Singh. But the PM had already left by then by helicopter to Thirumayam near this city to inaugurate BHEL's power plant piping unit and Unit-II High Pressure Boiler Plant, the sources said.
