The Hubballi‑Dharwad Police denied that there was a breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security cover during a roadshow on Thursday, ahead of the inaugural ceremony of the National Youth Festival in Karnataka city.
A youth apparently broke through a barricade and rushed towards Modi’s car during the roadshow.
“There was no such breach in the prime minister’s security cover. A person tried to give a garland to PM Modi at his roadshow. We are gathering more information about the person,” news agency ANI quoted Gopal Byakod, DCP Crime, Hubballi‑Dharwad, as saying.
Watch: PM Modi’s security breached in Karnataka’s Hubballi. Watch what happened.
Sources also told ANI that all people in the enclosure, from where that boy came, were properly frisked by the Special Protection Group (SPG) and the whole area was properly sanitised by security agencies. “It is not a serious lapse,” a source said.
Modi was standing on the running board of his moving car and waving at an enthusiastic crowd that lined up both sides of the road as he was heading for the Railway Sports Ground from the airport when the incident happened.
Modi extended his hand to accept the garland but could not reach out to the boy. Security officials accompanying him on the road got hold of the garland and handed it over to the PM who put it inside the car.
The police and traffic officials on duty immediately pulled the boy back and whisked him away. Along the route, Modi greeted by waving at the crowd, many of whom were seen chanting ‘Modi, Modi’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans, reported news agency PTI.
The report added that at some places, people showered flower petals as his cavalcade passed through the stretch slowly. Modi inaugurated the National Youth Festival in Hubballi on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
BJP-ruled Karnataka goes to assembly election by May.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)