What Is Y Category Security Cover And Who All Have It In India?

Three-time MLA Baba Siddique was shot dead despite having the Y category security cover amid Dussehra celebrations in Mumbai on Saturday night.

NCP leader and three-time MLA Baba Siddique was shot dead despite having the Y category security cover amid Dussehra celebrations in Mumbai on Saturday night. Three shooters, with links with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, fired at him when he stepped out of his son's office to return home.

Let's understand how a person gets a security cover and what are different categories of security provided to VIPs in India. Security cover is offered to recognised personalities whose lives are in jeopardy owing to their work or popularity. According to a Bureau of Police Research and Development report, the levels of security coverage provided in India, in ascending order, are X, Y, Y-plus, Z, Z-plus and the Special Protection Group (SPG). 

Special Protection Group

The SPG provides security only to the prime minister and the immediate family members residing with him or her. It is a force of 3,000 security personnel with a squad of highly trained dogs. The SPG was raised in 1985 after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The SPG was established in 1988 by an Act of the Indian Parliament.

Z-Plus Security

Z-plus security is the highest level of security protection after the SPG cover. This security coverage includes 55 personnel, along with CRPF commandos, who guard the protectee 24x7. Additional protection in the form of National Security Guard (NSG) commandos is also given if the need is felt. Those who have this cover include Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, NCP's Sharad Pawar, industrialist Mukesh Ambani, Umar Bharti, MK Stalin, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, and Uddhav Thackeray.

Z Security

Z security includes a security detail of around 22 personnel, including National Security Guards (NSGs) and local police. The protectee is also provided with an escort car.  Some people who have received Z security in the past include Baba Ramdev and Aamir Khan. 

Y Plus Security

This category is a security detail of 11 personnel, including two to four commandos and police personnel. Actors Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Kangana Ranaut are among those who are protected under this security cover after they received threats.

Y Category Security

Y category security cover includes eight to 11 personnel, including a couple of commandos. Out of these, five personnel (one commander and four constables) are stationed at the residence of the protectee while three armed PSOs are deployed with the protectee on a rotation basis in three shifts. Many VIPs in India have been given this level of security protection. Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has this security cover.

X Level Security

This is India's fifth critical security level, and its protection cover comprises two security professionals, both of whom are armed police officers. It is offered to several people around the country by a single Personal Security Officer.

Shooters who killed former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique had recced his house and office premises for around two months and keeping an eye on him, Mumbai Police said on Sunday. Mumbai police have confirmed the involvement of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in the killing of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and three-time MLA Baba Siddique on Saturday night.

Two accused have been arrested and they have been identified as Karnail Singh, who is from Haryana, and Dharamraj Kashyap, a resident of Uttar Pradesh. The search for the third accused is on as several teams of the Mumbai Crime Branch are investigating this case, the police added.

Siddique's attackers used firecrackers as cover to shoot the NCP leader during Dussehra celebrations on Sunday night. They attacked him when firecrackers were being burst outside the office of his son and MLA Zeeshan Siddique. The attackers reportedly stepped out of a car and opened fire at Siddique with a 9.9 mm pistol without warning.

Meanwhile, security has been enhanced outside Galaxy apartments, the residence of actor Salman Khan who stays in the same suburbs. Siddique and Salman Khan were known to be close friends and the killing of the former Maharashtra minister took place six months after Lawrence Bishnoi gang members fired shots at Khan’s home in Mumbai.