Mar

25

India’s security alphabet

March 25, 2008 posted by indiatime |

Yesterday, Rajbir Singh, a top cop who made his career assasinating bad guys, himself became a victim of the violence he had seen from very close. After killing 56 infamous criminals over a period of a decade, he was killed yestedray at point-blank range, by someone he was meeting with, over a real estate dispute. Rajbir Singh is said to have been the only cop in Delhi who himself had a z-plus security, the highest afforded to a person in this country.

That brings up a question of the effectiveness or the lack of it by what is perceived to be an iron-clad security blanket for India’s very, very important persons.

Out of the six security categories that are known to exist for people of any importance in this country, Rajbir Singh had z-plus, the highest. Then there is z, y-plus, y, x-plus and x (the plus differential for the x and y categories can sometimes be a little blurred).

Z-plus:
1. a cover of 36 security personnel includes black cat commandos, and people from National Security Guards (NSG), Special Protection Group (SPG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) as well as Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

2. upto 2 bullet-proof vehicles, pilot cars and escort vehicles full of security personnel, ability to immobilize remote devices

3. some VIPs can have an electronic pulse jammer vehicle to immobilize remote devices in the area. This can sometimes disable TV remotes or cell phones

4. round-the-clock manned security at home and office

5. 4-8 personal security officers

6. normally provided for top VVIPs, cabinet ministers, chief ministers, very senior politicians or bureacrats,

7. is sometimes extended to celebrities e.g. Cricket celebrities, astrologers to politicians

Z:
Z-security is provided to those who are important but not indispensably.

The number of security cover goes down to only 22 and includes .

1. 2-4 personal guards

2. officially, no bullet-proof vehicle

3. mostly meant for VIPs who are on either side of the bell-curve of fame, those who are on the rise and those who are on the decline

Y-plus:

1. the security detail is now down to only 11 people plus escort cars,

2. still includes guards with automatic weapons

3. Among some celebrities who have recently got this kind of security were Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Taslima Nasrin.

X:

Down to 2 security personnel who will get you a cold pepsi as you wait in your car worrying. But, take heart. If you have been given X-plus or X security, you are probably a low-level city councilman or a corporator in India. Accept it. And rejoice. You are so not important that even the bad guys have you off of their list.

For all others out there who do not have any of these alphabets hanging around them, you may be happy to know that you belong to the safest category of citizens in this country.

The government of India spends close to a billion rupees protecting those who think they need protection. That includes tens of thousands of security guards, vehicles, equipment, communication and a lot more. But the threats aren’t always from the outside. In case of Rajbir Singh, he was shot at point-blank range as he sat across his murderer and his Z-plus security waited outside. In case of Pramod Mahajan, a senior politician, he was shot by his own brother as the z-plus detail stood outside at the gate. In case of India’s ex-prime minister Indira Gandhi, it was people from her own z-plus details who killed her. In case of her son Rajiv, the Z-plus let him out of the security bubble as a suicide bomber blew him up on the pretext of touching his feet to show respect.

Bottomline. Your Z-plus is only as good as your luck.


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5 Comments so far

  1. India’s Security Alphabet | DesiPundit on March 25, 2008 9:54 pm

    [...] a top cop who was provided with Z-plus security was killed yesterday, Indiatime takes a look at India’s security alphabet ranging from the widely-known Z-plus to X. I like the concluding line - Your Z-plus is only as good as your [...]

  2. India’s Security Alphabet | DesiPundit on March 25, 2008 9:54 pm

    [...] a top cop who was provided with Z-plus security was killed yesterday, Indiatime takes a look at India’s security alphabet ranging from the widely-known Z-plus to X. I like the concluding line - Your Z-plus is only as good as your [...]

  3. Rohit on March 26, 2008 1:16 am

    Special Protection Group (SPG)is available only for the prime ministers and ex-prime ministers and their immediate family.

  4. ashvini kumar on March 26, 2008 12:23 pm

    According to what I have read in news portals he himself had opted out his Z+ security for this visit!
    May be saw it as an hindrance to the financials involved!!

  5. indiatime on March 26, 2008 2:28 pm

    Yes, Rohit, you are right about the SPG. Also, in Rajiv Gandhi’s case, the SPG wasn’t around when he was out of the prime-ministership. After his assasination, SPG was put in charge of ex-PMs and their families for a period extending to 5 years after being out of office.

    Ashvini’s point brings up the privacy issue that is the other side of z-plus security. In ACP Rajbir Singh’s case, that moment of privacy tipped the scale.

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