State police or RPF: Whose negligence had resulted in the breach of security in railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s convoy on August 9? Ms Banerjee blamed the state police for “negligence in duty” while the state government held her own Railway Protection Force (RPF) responsible.
In a report sent by the state home department to the Union ministry of home affairs, it has been stated that the lorry (driven by Gurjant Singh) hit one of the vehicles in Ms Banerjee’s convoy in a bid to avoid collision with an RPF vehicle, a Tata Sumo (WB 25C7494). This vehicle which belonged to a senior railway personnel was tailing her convoy though officially it was not its part. It was trying to change its position in the convoy when the other vehicles were parked near a hotel at Kolaghat, claims the report that was sent on August 16.
The sequence of the vehicles in Ms Banerjee’s convoy as stated in the report was: a pilot car followed by a RPF vehicle (though a RPF vehicle does not find place in the security arrangement of any VIP). Next in line was the VIP’s car (a Scorpio), followed by the first escort and an empty bullet-proof vehicle that was provided to Ms Banerjee under the Z-plus security cover which she had refused to use. Finally, there was the second escort. Though they were not officially part of the convoy, some RPF vehicles were following it. Out of the RPF vehicles (atleast five in number), two were of IG RPFs (Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway), while one was of an officer of the rank of a CEO.
On August 9, as the convoy was heading back to Kolkata from Lalgarh, it had stopped near a hotel at Kolaghat. “The pilot and the first RPF vehicle were parked near the hotel, while the VIP’s car was parked a few meters away. Next to Ms Banerjee’s car, all other vehicles, except one of the five RPF vehicles, were parked on the left side of the road,” the report says. One RPF vehicle (WB 25C7494) was moving from the right side of the road, apparently trying to change its position. It was then that the lorry appeared on the scene. “Finding all the vehicles parked on the left side, the lorry driver was keeping to the right. But on finding a RPF vehicle on the right side, he was forced to steer left and collided with the first escort.
The report also mentions that the accident might not had happened had the minister used the bullet-proof vehicle. “Since the minister had availed her own vehicle, nothing was in the hands of the state security unit. She had made the unscheduled stoppage near the hotel without any prior notice,” the reports says.