Former PM Manmohan Singh (TOI file photo)

NEW DELHI: The government has withdrawn Special Protection Group (SPG) cover for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , though he will continue to be have the "highest category" Z-plus protection, to be provided by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). This follows a review of his threat perception in line with the SPG Act that provides for SPG cover to ex-prime ministers and their immediate family to be renewed based on an annual assessment of their threat perception, starting from a year after they demit office.

Singh stepped down as Prime Minister in May 2014 after the UPA was voted out. He has had SPG protection for 5 years thereafter.

A home ministry spokesperson confirmed that Singh would no longer be protected by the elite force, thus limiting the current SPG protectee circle to PM Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"The current security cover review is a periodical and professional exercise based on threat perception that is purely based on professional assessment by security agencies. Dr Manmohan Singh continues to have a Z+ security cover," the ministry said on Monday.

While sources in the intelligence agencies told TOI that CRPF will be taking over Singh's security, a CRPF official said the force was yet to get a formal communication in this regard.

The SPG was set up in 1985 after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. SPG Act was passed in 1988 extending protection by the force to only the Prime Minister. When VP Singh unseated Rajiv Gandhi from the top post in 1989, the government automatically withdrew SPG protection for Gandhi. After Rajiv was assassinated in 1991, the SPG Act was amended to make former Prime Ministers and their families eligible for SPG cover for a period of at least 10 years.

The Act was further amended in 2003 to provide for renewal of SPG cover to ex-PMs and their immediate family members for a period of one year from the date on which the former PM ceased to hold office and beyond one year based on the level of threat as decided by the Central Government. However, it stipulates that not more than twelve months shall elapse between two consecutive assessments. While assessing the level of threat, the central government takes into account, among other things, if the threat emanates from any militant or terrorist organisation or any other source and if it is of a grave and continuing nature.



In Video: Centre withdraws SPG cover for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh