Centre scales down security cover for former PM Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur

New Delhi: The Centre has scaled down the armed security cover of Gursharan Kaur, wife of late prime minister Manmohan Singh, to the Z category following a review, official sources said on Friday.

She was earlier covered under the top Z-plus category central security protection by virtue of being the immediate family of the former prime minister who died at 92 on December 26.

A recent review of Kaur's security by central intelligence agencies has stipulated her to be placed under the Z category, the second-highest level of protection, the sources said.

Accordingly, the Union home ministry directed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) VIP security wing to scale down the number of personnel and protocol, according to the Z category, for Kaur, they said.

She will have the protection of about a dozen armed commandos for her personal protection as well as for her home, the sources said.

The change in categorisation of security has also led to the reduction of the number of Delhi Police personnel sanctioned for the Singhs, they said.

Singh was provided Z-plus cover, along with an advanced security liaison (ASL) protocol of the CRPF in 2019, after the government changed the Special Protection Group Act for former prime ministers.

Singh served as prime minister for two terms between 2004 and 2014.

The VIP security cover under the central protection list begins from the highest Z-plus (ASL) to Z-plus, Z, Y-plus, Y, and X.