Get your own security, WI to India

New Delhi: The National Security Guard (NSG) will be flying to the West Indies to provide security cover to Team India for its World Cup campaign.

A team of 16 NSG commandos including bomb detection and disposal experts will be in the Caribbean to provide security cover. Two senior security experts from the Ministry of Home Affairs would be overseeing the arrangements there, sources said.

CNN-IBN has learnt that the decision comes after a security team was sent to the West Indies to assess the situation.

The team returned with a report that there were chances of terror groups targeting the tournament, particularly at venues where India are slated to play.

In November 2006, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had gone to the Caribbean islands on an official visit.

When the group of security officials accompanying Shekhawat came back, a meeting was held in the Ministry of External Affairs where it was felt that the security arrangements were not up to the mark in the West Indies.

As the World Cup was around the corner it was felt that an added security personnel need to be sent to the Caribbean islands to look after the security of the Indian cricket team.

According to sources last week the West Indian authorities wrote to the Indian government that because of the heightened threat perception and the high profile of the Indian cricketers, it would be in the best interest if more security personnel were sent for the team.

The NSG team wouldn't be travelling with the Indian team nor would they be on the same plane or the bus. They would not even stay in the same hotel but would be split up in two groups.

One group will look after the security of all the venues where the Indian team will be playing and the other group will look after the security of the players.

Some players of the Indian cricket team have been facing threats from terror outfits like Lashker-e-Toiba.

According to the West Indian authorities they were short of security personnel to deal with such terror threats.

So the Ministry of External Affairs stepped in and the NSG was asked to shortlist a 16-member squad to be sent to West Indies.

The NSG team is expected to leave early next week.

Director General of NSG, Jyoti Krishan Dutt, said that the NSG squad would be for anti-sabotage check.

"The commando team is not travelling with the Indian cricket team. They will go to the West Indies as per the communication we have received from the Ministry of External Affairs. I would be not able to say whether the request came from the West Indies or some other authority but we received a communique from the MEA that the team consisting of a bomb disposal squad would go to the West Indies. Their services would be utlised for the job in which they specialise. From what I have learnt the work, which the team would be, doing there is in the context of security of the venues where the World Cup is being held. In fact the West Indies have also called for security personnel from some other countries too," Dutt added.

This is for the first time that the NSG commandos would be sent for the security of Indian team anywhere outside the country.

The Indian government has assured that the team would be provided with adequate security cover.

"India will provide all feasible support to ensure security for cricket teams in the World Cup. There was a formal request by the West Indies authorities to the Indian government to help them with the security cover," Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, Anand Sharma, said.

The Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi told CNN-IBN that the NSG team would only provide security cover to the Indian team.

Meanwhile the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Rajiv Shukla said that they were unaware about the security cover being provided to Team India.

"There was no request from the home ministry to the BCCI for any security cover of the players and BCCI is unaware of this," Shulka said.

The 15-member Indian team flew to the West Indies on the night of February 28.

(With inputs from Bhupendra Chaubey and Pallavi Ghosh)

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