Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The prestigious G20 summit passed off peacefully without any major untoward incident but a lot went on in the background from a few security breaches to handling unexpected requests from foreign dignitaries.
The cops had done months of marathon training and planning to deal with any kind of situation during the event.
The New Indian Express learnt that for this, the cops maintained “utter secrecy” by code naming the hotels where the heads of foreign states were staying.
‘Pandora’, ‘Paramount’, ‘Samara’
The code naming, according to some senior officials, is an old practice to maintain secrecy of the location of the person who is being provided the topmost level of security.
The code names of the hotels were decided in a meeting of the senior officials of the Delhi Police and the Special Protection Group (SPG), an elite commando force responsible for the security of the Indian Prime Minister. The security teams that accompanied the foreign delegates were also part of that meeting.
The hotel where US President Joe Biden stayed, ITC Maurya, was clandestinely code-named ‘Pandora’ while the hotel where Britsh Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stayed was named ‘Samara’. The Taj Mahal Hotel on Mansingh Road, where UAE Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan stayed, was coded as “Paramount”.
On similar lines, other hotels like Le Meridien were code-named ‘Mahabodhi’ while the Rajghat and Pragati Maidan were given the names ‘Rudrapur’ and ‘Niketan’, respectively.
However, despite such a high level of secrecy and security maintained by top officials of the Delhi Police, of which even junior officials were kept unaware, there were a few security breaches.
Biden’s convoy car at ‘Paramount’
On one of the days of the G20 Summit, a security breach was reported at the Taj Mahal Hotel where the UAE crown prince was staying when one of the cars from the US President’s convoy unexpectedly reached the hotel.
The car was immediately stopped and the driver was interrogated. He told the security personnel that he had been assigned the task of transporting a businessman from the Lodhi Estate area to the Taj Hotel. However, it was not part of the original plan.
Subsequently, the driver was detained by the Delhi Police who began an intense round of questioning. The driver claimed he was unaware of the exact route and destination initially set for him. After thorough questioning, he was let off but removed from the US President’s convoy.
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Saudi cop’s unexpected visit
The security agencies went into a tizzy when a Saudi Arabian national came very close to the UAE Crown Prince at the hotel Taj Mahal Palace in Delhi where he was staying during the G20 Summit.
The man, who was a police officer in Saudi Arabia, had recently arrived in Delhi and tried to approach the UAE crown prince in the hotel lobby to seek help for his ailing brother. He was then questioned by the UAE President’s security in-charge and then allowed to meet the crown prince.
However, later, the Delhi Police detained him and he was thoroughly questioned for hours where he said that he was unaware of the security protocols. The man was then let off with a warning.
Cyber threats loomed large
Hackers across the border made several failed attempts to hack Indian government websites, especially to cause disturbance during the G20 Summit.
In one of the attempts, the website of the Delhi and Mumbai Police went briefly down. Later, a hacker group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack. Even before the police websites, an attempt was made on some Delhi government websites as well, official sources said.
Sources further said the known origins of such hackers have been in Pakistan and Indonesia but this time there are some traces of Chinese hackers which are being probed.
Unscheduled requests
Sources in the Delhi Police said that several “unscheduled requests” were made by foreign dignitaries — including visiting the iconic Taj Mahal and even the Jama Masjid in north Delhi.
The Tourist Police facilitated the visit of some while a few were not allowed due to security issues. A Turkish delegation on the first day of the G20 Summit on September 8 visited the Jama Masjid late at night and spent more than half an hour there.
Meanwhile, another foreign delegate was stopped midway as he tried to visit the iconic mosque in old Delhi. The delegate was told to return to the hotel as his visit could not be facilitated on such short notice due to security concerns.
