The Maybach cars procured for the security detail of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not an upgrade but a “routine replacement” done by the Special Protection Group (SPG) as the previous BMW cars in the fleet had been used for eight years and an audit had raised objection over that, government sources have said.
Top government sources said Modi has not given any preference on which cars to use and such decisions are taken independently by the SPG without taking views of the protectee. “The SPG security detail has six years’ norm to replace vehicles used for a protectee. The previous cars were used for eight years under PM Modi. In fact, the audit raised objection over this issue and commented that it was compromising the life of the protectee. The new cars are not an upgrade but a routine replacement as BMW stopped making the model, which was used previously,” a government source said.
The source further said Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in the past used Range Rovers, which were actually procured for the then PM. The new Maybach cars in the PM’s fleet were spotted during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India earlier this month.
Estimates of the cost of the vehicle have also varied while the security features of the car have been extensively reported. “The cars cost much less than the media speculation… about one-third of the price quoted in media. The decisions relating to security detail purchases are based on threat perception of the protectee. These decisions are taken independently by the SPG without taking views of the protectee,” a government source said.
Sources also said the widespread discussion on the security features of the protectee’ s car is not in the national interest as it puts in public domain a lot of unnecessary detail. “This only threatens the life of the protectee,” the source said.
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