Centre Gives Kangana Ranaut Y-Plus Security, Actor Thanks Amit Shah

Ten armed commandos will now guard Ranaut, who has tweeted several times on alleged intimidation by Mumbai Police, in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

New Delhi: Actor Kangana Ranaut has been given Y-plus category security by Central security agencies and will be protected by about 10 armed commandos round the clock, Union Home ministry officials said on Monday.

Ranaut, who has been active on Twitter in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s passing, had recently drawn criticism after comparing Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. She has tweeted several times on feeling unsafe at the prospect of her return to Mumbai on September 9, citing the supposition that Rajput was “murdered” there.

The actor has been saying that she is being intimidated by Mumbai Police.

Ranaut also took to Twitter to share videos of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials at her office premises in Mumbai, adding they may demolish the property.

On Monday, Ranaut thanked Union home minister Amit Shah for the security cover. “Had he wanted, he would have told me to visit Mumbai later but he respected India’s daughter and acknowledged my self-respect,” she wrote, adding that no patriot can be quelled by fascists.

The Y-plus category central cover entails the deployment of about 10 armed commandos with the protectee round the clock, an MHA official told PTI.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, had, on Sunday said his government decided to provide the actor security after her father and sister sought protection for her. The Thakur government requested the Centre to provide security to Ranaut through a paramilitary force.

‘Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’ spat

The heightened security cover was ostensibly necessitated by Ranaut’s recent run-ins with criticism on Twitter.

Ranaut has been vocal about her assumptions on the role played by Mumbai Police in investigating the death of actor Rajput. She has repeatedly tweeted on this as well.

In a recent tweet, Ranaut had asked, “Why is Mumbai feeling like Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir?”. She had tagged a September 1 news report which noted that Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had purportedly said she should not come back to Mumbai if she was afraid of the city police.


Raut had demanded that Ranaut apologise for her comments against Mumbai and Maharashtra. He told reporters that “anybody who lives and works here and speaks ill of Mumbai, Maharashtra and Marathi people, I would say apologise first”.

On Friday, Raut urged the Maharashtra government to take action against people defaming the city police. He also asked Ranaut to tour the PoK first to see the situation prevailing there.

There have also been protests in Maharashtra against Ranaut’s comments.

Women Shiv Sena party workers stage a protest against Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut over her alleged statement, outside Shiv Sena office in Thane, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020.

Amidst all this, BJP leader Ram Kadam recently asked the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government to provide police protection to Ranaut since “she wanted to expose the Bollywood drug nexus”. Ranaut has called for drug tests for several Bollywood bigwigs, linking the drug penetration to Rajput’s death several times.

Responding to Kadam’s tweet, the actor said she feared Mumbai Police more than the “movie mafia”, and would prefer security either from Himachal Pradesh or the Centre.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s response to the matter drew a comparison with the “Taliban”.


Ranaut has likened the criticism she has received online to the Palghar lynching and has also sought to clarify that she shares a special connection with Mumbai.

In recent times, the issue of security cover had made headlines when the Special Protection Group (SPG) protection given to former prime minister Manmohan Singh was withdrawn in August, 2019.

A few days later, in November, the SPG cover for Congress’s interim chief Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was removed by the Centre.

(With PTI inputs)