Heavy police deployment, five tier security for PM's Chennai visit on Friday

Chennai, Jan 18 (IANS) The Greater Chennai police will deploy 22,000 personnel for security during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the city on Friday.

Modi will be inaugurating the Sixth Khelo India Youth Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai on Friday.

Greater Chennai Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore after a meeting of top officers said in a press statement that 22,000 police personnel will be deployed and a five layer security ring will be put in place for the Prime Minister's visit.

Senior police officers participated in the meeting called by the Greater Chennai City Police Commissioner.

Police officials from the Law and Order, Crime ,Traffic and Special Units, the Armed Reserve Police, Commando Forces and the Tamil Nadu Special Police will be part of the five tier security ring. The police have earmarked certain areas in the city as ‘Red Zones’. These areas are Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium where the inauguration will take place, Chennai Airport, INS Adayar. The route from Jawaharlal Nehru stadium to Raj Bhavan and from Raj Bhavan to Chennai airport as also the route from INS Adayar to Jawaharlal Stadium are 'Red Zones'. The police have announced that no drones will be allowed to fly over these areas on Friday and Saturday. Intensive checking is taking place at all main points in Chennai city including railway stations, airport, bus stations ,hotels, motels and shopping malls. The Tamil Nadu intelligence and central agencies are also on high alert for the Prime Minister‘s visit.

Several former operatives of the banned Tamil terror organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are reportedly active in the state. The Tamil Nadu police had arrested a high level former operative of the LTTE, Santukam alias Sabesan in a case related to the smuggling of drugs worth Rs 3000 crores and AK 47 assault rifles. The banned Muslim extremist organizations Popular Front and Al-Umma are also operating in the state.

The former cadres of Al-Umma were involved in a car bomb explosion near the Sangameswara temple in Coimbatore on the eve of Deepavali in 2022. However, in this suicide bomb attack only the assailant, 29 year old Jameesha Mubin lost his life. The state also witnessed the Coimbatore serial bomb blasts on February 14,1998 targeted at the then Deputy Prime Minister and senior BJP leader LK Advani who escaped unhurt due to a delay in the arrival of his flight at Coimbatore. Fifty eight people lost their lives and more than 200 were injured in the attack carried put by Al-Umma. The assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21,1991 by the LTTE took place in Sriperumbudur near Chennai and the police is not leaving any stone unturned to provide foolproof security during the visit of Prime Minister Modi.