Amar Singh gets Z-category central security cover again

Officials said the order beefing up security by Union Home Ministry was issued last night and it asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to take up the task with immediate effect. “In view of recent activities, there is perceptible threat (to Singh),” an official said citing inputs provided by central security agencies but did not elaborate. Singh, a close aide of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh, will have a contingent of least two dozen armed commandos of the CISF as part of the ‘Z’ cover and they will secure him every time he is mobile in Uttar Pradesh.

When he is in Delhi, a small team of Delhi Police is expected to take up the same responsibility. Singh, who became MP in May last year after a patch-up with SP leadership, has come into limelight again as Mulayam and his son Akhilesh Yadav are locked in a battle over the control of the Samajwadi Party. Officials said Amar Singh was a protectee with CISF cover from 2008 to mid-2016 and then this task was transferred to UP Police by the Union Home Ministry later.

“The cover was withdrawn in mid-2016 by the Centre and UP Police was asked to take over. It has now again been revised to the earlier ‘Z’ category under the same force — CISF,” an official added. The cover has been accorded based on threat inputs provided by central security agencies that stated that Singh faces possible danger and hence should be brought under “proximate” VIP security cover of central security forces.