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Ministerial double exposes India's security blunders

Police on Saturday said they were questioning a government minister's look-alike who took part in a television stunt to expose the lax security at India's parliamentary compound.

Balbir Singh Rajput, a truck driver and actor, who resembles Shipping Minister Shatrughan Sinha, was waved through parliament's main gate by policemen and armed guards on Friday.

Rajput, who has stood in for Sinha at a number of election campaign meetings, was filmed by 24-hour television news channel Aaj Tak walking through the multilayered security gates leading into the complex as policemen waved him through.

Aaj Tak admitted during broadcasts Saturday it had arranged the stunt to expose how easy it was to breach security at the parliamentary compound.

Rajput -- dressed in the long tunic and loose pants that Sinha usually wears -- was shown talking on his mobile phone and waving away photographers who rushed to take his picture as he entered the compound.

He did not enter the parliament building, but roamed around the vast drive outside the red sandstone building unhindered for at least 20 minutes. Two policemen shook his hand as he left the compound.

Aaj Tak showed Rajput later entering the shipping minister's office, about 1km away, where ministry staff jumped up to salute him.

Three security guards from parliament were suspended and Manohar Joshi, speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, ordered a probe into the security lapse, Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed told the Press Trust of India on Saturday.

Also Saturday, police scoured the parliament building after receiving a telephone call that a bomb had been planted in the compound. After a two-hour search, police declared the call a hoax, PTI reported.

Security around parliament has been beefed up with new electronic gates and visitors are frisked and required to wear security passes at all times since an attack on India's parliament in December 2001 by suspected Islamic militants in which 14 people died.

New Delhi blamed the attack on two Pakistan-based militant groups and Pakistan's spy agency. Islamabad denied involvement.

"Today I have reached Parliament House without being checked, without an entry pass," Rajput said on Aaj Tak. "I could have been carrying a weapon or a bomb. This is shameful."

Sinha did not immediately comment on the stunt, but his office lodged a complaint with the police over the impersonation, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

Rajput was picked up for questioning by police on Saturday.
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