While the Maharashtra police arrested three persons today after a bodyguard of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh allegedly opened fire killing a Sikh man in Mumbai on Friday, it now turns out that central security agencies had recently alerted the Home Ministry against Ram Rahim’s private armed bodyguards and identified them as potential “trouble-creators”. It’s learnt that the Home Ministry was to have taken up the matter with the Haryana Government, which has provided the Sacha Sauda chief with Z-plus security. The problem, sources said, was that the private bodyguards were not allowing police officials to take control of Ram Rahim’s inner cordon security.Here is where security agencies were upset as the Haryana Government not only allowed the private bodyguards to take charge of the inner cordon security, but also issued all-India licences for their arms. These licenses were issued by Sirsa district authorities, allowing these Sacha Sauda followers to line up bodyguards from within the sect.When contacted, Sirsa SP Venkat Ramana told The Sunday Express: “We have issued licences to many of these persons (his bodyguards). These are all-India licences.”Sources pointed out that once the state government had provided Ram Rahim with Z-plus security, no role should have been left for private bodyguards. In fact, no person other than the authorized security personnel should have been allowed to carry weapons. However, the Congress-led government in Haryana seems to have allowed the Sacha Sauda sect to have its way.While Ram Rahim is to receive Z-plus security wherever he travels in India, his armed bodyguards never let him out of sight and did not allow local police access to his inner cordon. It was in this situation that the incident in Mumbai happened where agitating Sikhs tried to block Ram Rahim’s motorcade by bringing another vehicle in front of it. This immediately created panic and one of the bodyguards allegedly started firing in which one person was killed.Though the Mumbai police today claimed that the stop at Mulund was “unscheduled”, sources pointed out that Maharashtra police would have deployed personnel along with Ram Rahim given his Z-plus status. That the situation spun out of control and led to firing, officials felt, underlined the need to take a relook at the role of bodyguards and allowing private people with licenced weapons in close proximity of protectee. Meanwhile, the Centre was closely monitoring the situation in Mumbai as Ram Rahim was whisked away from the State immediately to avoid further tension.
