'US agents behaved rudely, violated all norms'

Upset over the high-handedness of the US security agencies, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal expressed his displeasure to the Maharashtra government, stating problems faced by his men on account of American officials, while handling President Barack Obama's security on his recent visit to the city.

In a report, submitted to the state Home department, the Mumbai police chief explained in detail about the stand-off between the city police and American secret service agents, while taking care of security at various venues in the city during Obama visit.

"As the President's visit ended, a comprehensive report with regards to the visit and security aspects was prepared by me on behalf of the city police, which was submitted to the State Home department," Dayal said.

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"In the report, I have also mentioned about the problems we had to face due to the US secret service agents while handling the security," said Dayal, who was with the Special Protection Group and directly dealt with US agencies to ensure safety of Bill Clinton during his India visit in 2000.

A senior police official, on condition of anonymity said, "the US agents had behaved rudely and violated the security norms agreed upon by the two sides at all sites."

For instance, the US security officials had stationed a sniper on the terrace of St Xavier's College on Sunday, despite the security agreement clearly stated that all sniper positions would be taken care of by NSG commandos, the official said.

This led to a heated argument between senior city police officials and US security men after which the sniper was asked to come down, the official added.

At the Mumbai University, where First Lady Michelle Obama was a guest on Saturday, US agents did not allow Deputy Police Commissioner Suhas Warke, who was in-charge of security at venue, to enter the place after Michelle's arrival.

"How can they treat the security in-charge like this? Warke had narrated the incident to the Commissioner, who took note of it and also mentioned this incident in the report," said another official.

When contacted Warke said he explained everything about the incident to his chief Dayal and refused to comment further.