Delhi Police's pilot car would have saved Mamata from SFI activists

NEW DELHI: If West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee had requisitioned a pilot vehicle of the Delhi Police, she could have avoided the heckling she faced from SFI students on April 9, outside YojanaBhawan, an inquiry has revealed. Banerjee was entitled to a pilot vehicle but chose not to have one.

ET has learnt that an inquiry report submitted by MHA additional secretary Khurshid Ahmed Ganai has mentioned that since Banerjee has a Z-level security cover, she was entitled to a pilot and an escort vehicle from Delhi Police when she is in the capital. The inquiry found that Banerjee does not like having a pilot vehicle leading her personal car and hence it was not requisitioned to guide her personal car to the correct gate of Yojana Bhawan.

The inquiry found that after SFI activists started to gather at gate number 1 and gate number 5, the protocol officers with the West Bengal CM and protocol officers of Yojana Bhawan had jointly decided around 3 pm that Banerjee should be driven in through gate number 4. This gate is only used by Planning Commission members and VIPs usually take Gate 1. Banerjee eventually used this entrance and was heckled by SFI protesters.

The report said that a pilot vehicle would have guided Banerjee's car to gate 4 but a 'communication gap' led her personal vehicle to reach the gate where the protest was on. The report has faulted the local police for not promptly guiding Banerjee's car to gate number 4 when her personal car arrived at the wrong gate but the top Delhi Police leadership has not been indicted for the lapse. It has been recommended though that the West Bengal CM should take her full security when she is in Delhi.