Was Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi being snooped on? While the Grand Old Party has shown undue hurry in turning the matter of details on him sought by the police into a political issue, the latter say it's nothing more than a routine job. Sources in the police maintain that the assistant sub-inspector was only doing what he is supposed to do.
"As per age-old system, all beat constables are expected to be informed about high-profile people living in their area. They are provided with a proforma which is filled with micro details like appearance of a person, clothes he or she prefers to wear, places he visits most and people he/she meets. In short, a brief profiling is done. These information is used in a situation of emergency," an officer told Firstpost adding that the "same thing was done with Gandhi".
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. PTI
Delhi Police Special Branch ASI Shamsher Singh visited the Congress leader's Tughlak Lane residence on 3 March to gather details about him. He contacted the Special Protection Group (SPG) guarding the Congress leader and was directed to the leader's personal staff. He had presented a set of questions in a fixed proforma to the staff, who had told him that they would get back with the details.
The incident surfaced after another cop Rameshwar Dayal from Tughlaq Road police station visited Gandhi's residence for the same set of information. "The agitated Congress leaked the proforma to the media to substantiate their baseless allegation that a 'political espionage' is going on," he said.
It was not an isolated process of gathering information about Gandhi, said the officer revealing that Dayal visited other high profile leaders like Veerappa Moily, PC Chako on the same day and Lal Krishn Advani a day before.
After the incident was reported, a high-level meeting attended by Commissioner BS Bassi, Joint CP (New Delhi) Mukesh Kumar Meena and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal held at Delhi Police Headquarters.
After the meeting, Bassi also said that it was a routine enquiry, and not part of any political conspiracy.
"The procedure is being followed for years. The information is gathered to ensure security of the person. There is no ill motive behind this," he told reporters.
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According to the top cop, the police action was to ensure security of all “ganya-manya” (important) people in Delhi, as part of which it periodically seeks details about these dignitaries. “Tell me, suppose we get information that some people are going to protest at the BJP office, or the residence of Rajnath Singh, or residence of Sonia Gandhi, how will we, if we do not know where that person lives, or what his telephone number is, alert him? So, we do need to get that “jaankaari” (information) from time to time.
He said the police will review the procedure. The details of MPs and MLAs are gathered following the constitution of new Parliament and assembly.
Explaining in detail about the need of the "profiling", another officer told Firstpost, "With the help of these detailed information, we can keep an eye on the people visiting a particular leader. If we know the places he or she frequently visits, we can gather intelligence report from there and make fool proof security arrangements for him or her. He have details of all leaders, including the prime minister, and other dignitaries and important people. Sometimes, protesters inform leaders only, and not the police before agitating in front of their residence or office. Our men keep visiting their offices and residence and in this way, they get updates regarding the upcoming events and we make security arrangements accordingly. This is how we work."
He wondered why the party is "blowing the issue out of proportion".
Meanwhile, a police team on Friday visited Gandhi's residence to inquire about the incident. A team, led by Additional DCP Narwal visited Gandhi's residence to enquire about the incident and the sequence of events. The team also checked the pictures of the policemen who had visited the Congress leader's residence a couple of days ago and enquired about the colour of the Congress leader's eyes and hairs.
The police team will give a report in this regard to Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi.
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