Kiran Tare for Mid-Day 

Mumbai, Sep 25: Security for Amitabh Bachchan and Samajwadi Party (Maharashtra) President Abu Asim Azmi has been reduced.

While confirming this, Senior Inspector Y B Pawar, officer in the special protection unit of Mumbai Police, said, “I have orders from my superiors to reduce their security and I am just following it. I don’t know the reason behind it.”

Bachchan and Azmi both enjoyed Y category security: they had two guards stationed at their homes and two were with them constantly. While Azmi’s security has been completely withdrawn, Bachchan will now have only one guard. Outside the city, two armed jawans of the Uttar Pradesh police are deployed for Azmi.

Azmi came to know about the development when he was coming back to Mumbai from Hubli by a chartered plane yesterday evening. He said, “When I was on my way back, I rang up home and came to know my security was completely withdrawn. The police hadn’t informed me of this decision.”

Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, who came to Mumbai with Azmi, blamed Deputy CM R R Patil and NCP chief Sharad Pawar for the decision. He said, “If anything happens to Azmi, we will hold Pawar and Patil responsible. Moreover, Bachchan is a national icon. It is a matter of concern that the government has reduced security cover for the superstar.”