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Regular-article-logo Friday, 26 April 2024

Mystery box on Karnataka helipad

The video doesn’t show Modi or the body of the chopper or the box being unloaded

K.M. Rakesh Bangalore Published 14.04.19, 02:34 AM
The clip shows the black box being carried to the Innova.

The clip shows the black box being carried to the Innova. Screenshot from the video clip

A video of a black box being loaded hurriedly into a minivan at a Karnataka helipad, allegedly just after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had landed there, has prompted the Congress to call for a poll panel probe.

Youth Congress media-in-charge Srivatsa tweeted the 14-second video clip on Saturday, saying it was filmed just after Modi landed in Chitradurga in an air force helicopter on April 9 to address a poll rally.

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State Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao soon shared the video.

“A mysterious box was unloaded from PM Modi’s helicopter at Chitradurga yesterday (sic) and loaded into a private Innova which quickly sped away. The #ElectionCommission should enquire into what was in the box and to whom the vehicle belonged,” he tweeted.

If the black box indeed came in Modi’s chopper, Rao has got the date wrong.

The video doesn’t show Modi or the body of the chopper or the box being unloaded. It shows the rotating blades in a corner and two sturdy men hurrying towards the white Innova with the box.

“Why was the box not part of security protocol? Why wasn’t the Innova part of PM’s convoy? Whose car was it?” Srivatsa asked.

The Innova is seen a little distance away from where a handful of security vehicles are parked. The two men carrying the box are in civil dress.

“The security protocol for a Prime Minister is so tight that only authorised people and vehicles are allowed anywhere near the helipad,” a senior Congress functionary said, asking not to be identified.

“Here we can see a box being carried and a vehicle standing alone. All we seek is an explanation what was in the box.”

In the video, a third man runs almost alongside the two carriers. Two others, one of them with a backpack, run a few steps behind and a sixth man follows a few yards away.

The box is big — about 3.5ft by 3ft by 2ft — and appears heavy, as the two men seem to be struggling all the 25 metres or so to the Innova. As the box is loaded into the hatchback, one of the two men quickly opens the door and gets into the back seat.

An official from the media certification and monitoring committee of the Election Commission told The Telegraph the matter had come to its notice. “We immediately raised the matter with the chief electoral officer of Karnataka,” the official, who cannot be named, said. Any inquiry is up to the poll panel, he said.

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