Was Mobile Phone, Not a Sniper, Says Govt After Congress Alleges Laser Pointed at Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: The Congress, in a letter to the Union home ministry, has claimed a threat to party chief Rahul Gandhi’s life, alleging that his security was breached when he visited Amethi on Wednesday to file his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections.

In the letter signed by senior party leaders Ahmed Patel, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh, the Congress said during Gandhi’s media interaction, a laser was pointed at his head, which could have come from a sniper rifle. The party also enclosed a security video that shows a spot of green light on Gandhi’s temple.

"A perusal of his media interaction will reflect that a laser (green) was pointed at his head, intermittently on at least 7 separate occasions in a short period; including twice at his temple on the right side of the head," read the letter. It added that several people, including security personnel, had concluded that the green light could be a from a sniper rifle.

The home ministry, however, denied receiving any letter from the grand old party, saying as soon as they received information about the “green light", director (SPG) was asked to verify the factual position.

It added that the light in the clipping sent by the party was found to be from a mobile phone used by a Congress photographer, who was videographing Gandhi’s impromptu press interaction near the Amethi collectorate.

The Congress had in April last year also alleged that an aircraft Gandhi — an SPG protectee — took to Karnataka ahead of assembly elections reportedly developed “multiple faults" after it was tampered with. In a complaint made to Karnataka police chief Neelmani N Raju, his office had stated that several “unexplained technical errors" happened during the course of the two-hour flight and demanded a thorough investigation.

A probe by the DGCA had ruled out any conspiracy but accepted that the aircraft’s crew had a delayed response to a steep loss of altitude after the autopilot function developed a snag. It took the pilots 24 seconds to get the chartered plane under control, DGCA said.