The Hindu : Front Page : Manmohan's convoy gets stuck in traffic

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Wednesday, Nov 01, 2006
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Manmohan's convoy gets stuck in traffic

Staff Reporter

Incident raises hackles as vehicle leading convoy takes wrong turn

Thiruvananthapuram: The convoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got stuck for three minutes at a traffic point in the city on Tuesday night, raising public concern about his security in Kerala.

The Prime Minister was on his way to the Raj Bhavan from the international airport when the vehicle leading the convoy took a wrong turn at the Asan Square in front of the MLAs' hostel at Palayam around 10 p.m. Defence Minister A. K. Antony and the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi were following Dr. Singh.

Four Safari suit-clad special protection group men wielding sub-machine guns jumped out of the vehicle tailing Dr. Singh's car when the VIP's car got wedged in the jam. They surrounded Dr. Singh's vehicle, while others of the same group chased away onlookers, shouting "Hat Jao," an eyewitness told The Hindu .

He said senior officials got the convoy moving after what seemed to be a "long, tense and silent period broken only by the shouts of policemen."

The State police have suspended R. Balachandran, Armed Reserve Sub-Inspector, who was the pilot officer for the VIP convoy. The Additional Director-General of Police, Intelligence, Jacob Punnose, has been asked to inquire into the matter. The police have detained the driver of the taxi car, which was taken on contract by the Home department as a pilot vehicle for the VIP convoy. The driver was identified as Shiju, a resident of Nemom.

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