Ramdev at Ramlila maidan in 2011

New Delhi, Nov. 17: Yoga guru Ramdev needn’t wear a salwar-kameez any more, at least not under the country’s present rulers.

Three years after Delhi police caught him trying to escape a midnight crackdown dressed as a woman, the same force is working on where the televangelist is most vulnerable in the capital.

The Union home ministry today decided to accord Ramdev Z-category security, following a review of threat perception for VIPs. It means Ramdev, who campaigned for the BJP in the lead-up to the summer elections, will now be guarded round the clock by 22 guards, a notch below the 36 that protect those who enjoy the highest Z-plus cover.

“We have received a letter from the CRPF top brass asking us to give details of areas in the capital to be covered for protecting Baba Ramdev. It’s nothing short of an irony. The same person was arrested by Delhi police three years ago,” said a senior police official.

The decision followed an assessment of Ramdev’s “vulnerability to attacks from his opponents”. Ramdev had already been given Z-category cover by the Uttarakhand government. Today’s decision means the cover extends to the rest of the country.

In June 2011, Ramdev had tried to slip out of Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the venue of his movement against corruption and black money, dressed in a salwar-kameez, his face covered with a dupatta, but had broken into a run when the cops came too close. That gave him away.

Among others included for cover in a revised list are LJP MP Chirag Paswan and BJP MP Ashwini Kumar. The Z-category cover of former Congress MP Avtar Singh Bhadana and the Z-plus cover of former UPA-appointed Chhattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt have been removed, sources said.

The CRPF has been providing Z-plus security to BJP president Amit Shah across the country, except Delhi, and Z-category security in Uttar Pradesh to party MLA Sangeet Som, an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots. After today’s updated list, the paramilitary force will provide security to 45 VIPs. Till 2012, the force had guarded only eight VIPs.

“VIPs prefer to be guarded by the CRPF because of its wider exposure in anti-insurgency and counter-terror operations,” an official of the paramilitary force said. “But where is the manpower to meet the demands?”

Asked about Ramdev’s cover, an officer who had intercepted the yoga instructor in 2011, shrugged. “It’s all about different times,” he said.