Thiruvananthapuram: After Kannur, a major lapse in providing security to the chief minister has been exposed on Monday as he had to hire a cab from the Thiruvananthapuram airport because his official car did not come to pick him up.
The CM’s office and security agencies have justified the incident citing the arrival of the flight ahead of schedule. ADGP Intelligence T.P. Senkumar has directed SP security Christopher Charlesraj to probe into the lapse.
In his usual manner, Oommen Chandy maintained that there was no security lapse because he preferred not to use the official car as he was returning from Delhi after an election campaign.
The chief minister reached here in an Indigo flight around 10.20 p.m, some 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled arrival time of 10.50 p.m. By that time the police pilot, escort and quick response teams that are part of the chief minister’s motorcade were ready at the airport. However, the vehicle to carry the chief minister did not reach there.
After waiting for about 15 minutes, the chief minister asked his aides to arrange a taxi. The police immediately arranged an Innova car from the airport taxi stand and the vehicle was also subjected to
anti-sabotage checks before he got into it and proceeded to his office. In a bid to cover-up the lapse, CM’s office sources maintained that a taxi was hired as the CM was on election duty. However, police sources confirmed that there was a lapse especially since the CM was being provided high security matching Z-plus category.
In Z-plus category, the motorcade has to be made ready about one hour prior to the VIP’s arrival, said sources. Usually, it is the responsibility of the official in charge of the Chief Minister’s tour, his gunman and the tourism department to arrange a vehicle for the Chief Minister, said police sources.
