Centre provides Z category VIP security cover to Radha Soami head

New Delhi: The Centre has granted the Z category VIP security cover of armed paramilitary commandos to Jasdeep Singh Gill, the newly appointed spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas, official sources said Tuesday.

The Union home ministry has asked the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to take charge of the security of the 45-year-old religious head.

A Z category security cover has been approved by the Centre for Gill following a threat perception report prepared and recommended by central intelligence agencies. Armed CRPF commandos will secure him across the country, the sources said.

A squad of 12-14 commandos will be with the VIP round-the-clock and in shifts, they said.

The Radha Soami Satsang Beas, headquartered along the banks of Beas river near Amritsar in Punjab, has a large number of followers across the country and abroad. Top political leaders, business tycoons and famous people from various walks of life visit the sect headquarters regularly.

Gill was appointed as the head of the sect early last month. He is an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi alumnus, and holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from Cambridge.

He was the chief strategy officer and senior management personnel at Cipla, India, from where he stepped down earlier this year. His wife is a doctor.

His father, Sukhdev Singh Gill, retired from the Army in the Colonel rank and he reached Beas more than two decades ago. Jasdeep Singh Gill has been visiting and doing 'sewa' at the 'Dera' (Beas) for the last 30 years, sources at the sect had said.