NEW DELHI: The Special Protection Group (SPG) currently has only one protectee — the prime minister — while the CRPF secures 56 important leaders in the country, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi , minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy in a written reply in Lok Sabha said the SPG protects only one person.

Only recently, the SPG cover of members of the Gandhi family — Sonia , Rahul and Priyanka — was withdrawn, even though they were given the highest Z-plus category security by CRPF. This came months after the SPG shield of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also replaced with Z-plus cover by CRPF.

The SPG act was amended recently, after the cover of Gandhis had been withdrawn, to restrict the elite force’s cover to only the prime minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at his official residence; as well as a former prime minister and his immediate family members staying with him at his residence, for a period of five years after he demits office.

Reddy, to a query seeking the list of persons whose security has been withdrawn or granted since 2014, refused to disclose details for “security reasons.”

“Security is provided on the basis of threat assessment by central security agency. It is subject to periodic review. Based on such review, the security cover is continued or modified,” he said adding that the details of individuals and their security cannot be disclosed due to security reasons.

