Patiala House Courts turns into fortress for Gandhis

An elaborate security blanket was thrown in and around Patiala House courts complex on Saturday afternoon for the appearance of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and others in the National Herald case.

A senior police officer said that they had to make some last-minute changes as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former defence minister A.K. Antony and other senior Congress members also accompanied Mrs Gandhi and Mr Gandhi. “Though we had everything in place, we had to add more policemen to the layers of security in wake of more VVIPs coming to courts,” the senior police officer said, adding, “We made sure that the innermost layer of the security provided by the Delhi police was solid as most of the visitors were SPG protectees.”

According to sources, senior officials of the Special Protection Group (SPG), Delhi police and Intelligence Bureau monitored the situation every minute at the court premises where more than 15 additional CCTV cameras were installed for the purpose.

The sources added security personnel had been discussed at length and the security officers had a long meeting with the district judge of the Patiala House courts a day before the appearance on Friday.

“We had this in mind that the court is a public place where a number of lawyers and litigants come daily,” the senior police officer said, adding, “We had, therefore, made elaborate arrangements.”

The shops inside the premises remained closed and the area near gate number two of the court, where the courtroom in which the hearing is scheduled is located, was cordoned off with deployment of a multi-layered security cover.

A senior Delhi police officer said: “We did not want to leave anything to chances and left no stone unturned as the protectees had high threat perception.” He added: “We called in extra force from all police stations in the New Delhi district to depute as many as possible at the courts.”

The Patiala House courts complex falls under the jurisdiction of Tilak Marg police station where briefings were held with senior police officers.

The traffic restrictions were also put in place around India Gate for movement of the Congress leaders. There were also reports that no car was allowed to enter the court premises until Mrs Gandhi and Mr Gandhi left.