Mysuru: More than 2,500 security personnel were deployed to ensure order during Prime Minister Modi’s road show on Sunday.

While the Special Protection Group (SPG) and the National Security Guards (NSG) formed the first and primary layer of security, the Paramilitary forces deployed for election duty and the City Police and the armed personnel pulled from various wings formed the secondary and tertiary layer of the security.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumar was the overall in-charge of the security all along the road show route and under him functioned City Police Commissioner Ramesh Banoth, DCPs M. Muthuraj, S. Jahnavi and all the Sub-Divisional ACPs of Mysuru.

The SPG and NSG teams had arrived in Mysuru a week in advance and the latest forces to join them on Apr. 29 were anti-sabotage squads, bomb disposal squads, jammers and other advanced security equipment mounted on the SUVs. Fortunately, the road show passed off peacefully, except for a mobile phone-throwing incident that was ‘unintentional.’  The mega event was preceded by a series of meetings of the City Top Cop with the SPG commandos along the route and key destinations. If barricades were erected all along the route, crowd control when the PM’s open vehicle was in motion was a challenging task, especially at the cross roads, junctions, circles and other lanes and bylanes.

High-definition CCTV cameras, bright flashlights and multi-light bunches were installed along the route for high visibility. However, the road show led to traffic jams at many places abutting the route and surrounding areas as thousands of tourists had descended on Mysuru city owing to a long weekend that got stretched for Monday, May Day.

Motorists had to face traffic restrictions in many parts of city. Police had announced in advance that many roads will be out of bounds for traffic between 12 noon and 8 pm. Owing to this, many arterial roads around the road show route were clogged.

Mobile phone hurled at PM out of ‘excitement’

A mobile phone was thrown at Prime Minister Modi while he was holding a road show  in city standing on a specially designed vehicle. The phone was hurled out of ‘excitement’ by a female BJP worker who had no ‘ill-intention’, according to the Police.

The phone landing on the bonnet of the vehicle after it was flung at the vehicle did not go unnoticed by the PM who indicated the object to the Special Protection Group (SPG) sleuths who were accompanying him.

“The Prime Minister was under the protection of the SPG. The lady (whose phone fell onto PM’s vehicle) was a BJP worker. The SPG people returned it to her later,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Alok Kumar told reporters.

“In the excitement (of the event), it was thrown and she had no (ill) intention but we are trying to trace the lady because the phone was handed over to her by the SPG sleuths. We are trying to trace the woman,” he added.

It may be recalled here that during the PM’s recent road show in Kerala’s Kochi too, a mobile phone was hurled towards the PM but the alert SPG commando spotted it and using his quick reflexes, he was able to intercept the object before it reached the PM. The phone had slipped out of the hands of a person while trying to shower flower petals on the Prime Minister. The phone was returned to that person later.

The mobile phone was not hurled at the PM’s vehicle intentionally. One lady, a Yoga teacher, was filming the road show with her mobile phone and a party worker’s hand accidentally touched the phone while he was throwing flowers near the Chikka Gadiyara. The phone flew at the PM’s vehicle due to the sudden impact. Otherwise, the road show passed off smoothly and we functioned as per the directions given by the SPG and it took proper planning of over a week and meticulous coordination to ensure order. An estimated 60,000 people had lined up along the road show route.”

— Ramesh Banoth, Police Commissioner, Mysuru city