Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra's name removed from 'no-frisking' list at airports

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government has withdrawn the no frisking privilege accorded to Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, at airports across the country.

"The minister ( Ashok Gajapati Raju) on Tuesday evening approved revoking of no-frisking privileges to Vadra," said a senior civil aviation ministry official. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security subsequently issued a fresh order removing Vadra from the exempt list.

A copy of the order was reviewed by ET, which broke the story online on Wednesday.

Vadra had been on a list of 33 categories of people who are exempted from pre-embarkation security checks at civilian airports in the country. The privilege was available only when he travelled with those who are given cover by the Special Protection Group, including his wife Priyanka Gandhi, mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi and brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi. Vadra welcomed the government's move. "I appreciate that my name will not appear in the VVIP list anymore. I hope this is a dead issue now and will not be used against me. My best wishes," he said in a posting on Facebook.