Video clips suggest Naxal attack on PM Narendra Modi: Intelligence agencies

New Delhi: The intelligence agencies have got credible evidence that Naxalites are planning to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Maoist-infested states.

Sources said the agencies saw video footage recovered from the laptops of Naxal cadres arrested in the past few weeks of a number of rallies addressed by Mr Modi in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and the ongoing polls in Jharkhand. Most of the footage is from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand rallies. These are now being scrutinised by officials from the Intelligence Bureau and National Investigation Agency.

“Prime facie it appears that Naxals were scrutinising the security deployment pattern at the PM’s rallies. There is strong suspicion that this was being done primarily with the aim of targeting the PM’s rallies and perhaps PM was the potential target.

Prior to the recent attack on CRPF personnel the Naxals were desperate for a major incident and perhaps that was the reason they were recording the deployment pattern of security personnel at the venue for the PM’s rallies,’’ a senior intelligence official said.

However, following the intelligence inputs security at the PM’s rallies was made completely foolproof due to which the Naxals could not carryout any attack. But the fact that Naxals or their sympathisers mingled with the crowd and recorded the event is in itself a cause for concern for the security agencies.