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PM security breach: 3 youngsters get bail

Last updated on: July 28, 2006 17:51 IST

The three youngsters who were booked on Friday for breaching the prime minister's security cordon at his official residence on Thursday, have been granted bail. They were let out this afternoon on a surety of Rs 25,000 each.

"We have registered cases against them under Section 447 and 419 of the Indian Penal Code for impersonation and trespass. Further investigations are on but all three have been released on bail," Anand Mohan, deputy commissioner, New Delhi district, who personally led the investigation into the matter, told rediff.com.

The Prime Minister's Office had stated that there was no security breach as people can come up to the reception area of the complex and are turned away if they have no appointment.

"There was no security breach. All those who have genuine appointments are allowed inside the reception and others are turned away," the prime minister's media advisor Sanjaya Baru had said.

Shantkumar Mahalya, advocate for Yogita and Veena, told rediff.com on phone that his clients were totlly innocent and there was no cause for detaining them through the night after the Special Protection Group had specifically told the Delhi police that there was no breach of security of the PM's cordon by the occupants of the car.

He claimed the only charge pressed against his clients was trespassing, and that no case was made out for impersonation.

Earlier, Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul had said the three were booked for impersonation and trespassing, both of which are bailable offences.

The three -- Yogita and Veena Chaudhary, both residents of Jaipur and stewardesses with Air Sahara, and Imran of Delhi -- were arrested on Friday morning. Soon after the incident broke out, Air Sahara said it will sack the two girls.

"We have decided to terminate their services. They were anyway grounded since June 1 for various complaints against them," Alok Sharma, of Air Sahara told rediff.com.

While breath-analyser tests of the three done at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital has shown they were not drunk, the police sent their blood samples to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for further analysis.

When asked how the girls got hold of the car when it belonged to a man called Zahid, Mahalya said while Zahid was the previous owner, Yogita was the new owner of the car and hence she was driving it.

Anand Mohan, confirmed that the black colour Hyundai Sonata car had been purchased by Yogita three months back and the three youths had ventured into the prime minister's residence for the sake of fun.

"My clients would not have faced so much of trouble had the media not made a mountain out of a molehill," Mahalya added.

Onkar Singh in New Delhi