IB alert: Human bomb may target Modi in Bihar

The Intelligence Bureau has issued an alert about a possible attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi using a human bomb either during his visit to Patna or at the public rally he is scheduled to attend in Muzaffarpur on July 25.

A senior Bihar police official said that the state government and Special Protection Group -- the elite force that handles the prime minister’s security -- had been alerted by the IB about the possible attack.

Warning that well-trained female Maoists may be used as a human bomb, the IB alert states that the attack may be on the lines of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1991.

Police sources informed that the suicide bomber may gain access to the venue disguised as a media person, police official, electrician, organiser, caterer or even a labourer.

Modi will be in Patna to launch the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay Rashtriya Gramin Joyti Yojna and inaugurate the new IIT-Patna campus.

The prime minister is also scheduled to attend two other functions in Patna before leaving for Muzaffarpur, around 70 km from Patna, to address an election campaign rally.

A state home department official said, “The government will go for unprecedented security cover during Modi's rally in Muzaffarpur."

Although the SPG controls Modi's security, the Bihar government has directed its senior officers to prepare special security arrangement for the rally, the official said.

It may be recalled that Modi's rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna was rocked by serial blasts on October 27, 2013. Modi was then the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. At least five people were killed and nearly 100 injured in the blasts.