Young boy, who broke security cordon at PM roadshow, being questioned

Hubballi (Karnataka): A young boy, not even in his teens, who cut through the security cordon and tried to hand over a garland to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a roadshow here on Thursday, was taken away from the scene and is being questioned by the local police.

According to police officials and grabs from the live video streaming of the event, the boy, who was seen rushing towards Prime Minister Modi's motorcade with a garland in hand, managed to reach very close to Prime Minister Modi.

The Prime Minister extended his hand to accept the garland from above the car door but could not reach the boy. The Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel got hold of the garland before local police secured the boy and removed him from the scene. SPG passed on the boy's garland to the Prime Minister who then put it inside his vehicle.

The incident happened during a road show by the Prime Minister as he was reaching the venue for inaugurating the 26th National Youth Festival here.

PM Modi was standing on the 'running board' of his moving car and waving at an enthusiastic crowd that lined up the route in large numbers as he headed to Railway Sports Ground from the airport, when the incident occurred.

Senior police officials told PTI that the boy who was whisked away from the spot was being questioned.

Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Raman Gupta said the incident cannot be called a security breach as everyone (allowed to wave at the PM and greet him from both sides of the road) had been frisked and checked.

“We cannot call it a security breach because we had frisked and checked everybody who stood on both sides of the road. Even the garlands were thoroughly inspected,” Raman Gupta told PTI.

Gupta added that over 3,000 policemen were deployed as part of the security arrangements and the entire road was barricaded.

“But suddenly this child jumped and rushed towards the Prime Minister unexpectedly. This was despite us thoroughly telling every participant of the event about the dos and don’ts,” the Police Commissioner said As live pictures showed, along the route, PM Modi was greeted by waving at the crowd, many of whom were seen chanting 'Modi, Modi' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogans.

At some places, people showered flower petals as the motorcade passed through the stretch slowly.

Modi inaugurated the National Youth Festival here on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.