Car of President's Deputy Secretary stolen

New Delhi, Aug 16: The car of President A P J Abdul Kalam's Deputy Press Secretary Nitin Wakankar was stolen on the eve of Independence Day despite the unprecedented security arrangements made to foil possible terror strikes in the capital.

Police said today it had so far not been able to trace the car stolen from outside the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) on Rafi Marg.

Mr Wakankar had gone to INS, just behind the Reserve Bank of India, on August 14 in connection with some official work and found his car missing at 1100 hrs. He informed the Parliament Police Station within five minutes and subsequently lodged an FIR.

Top police officials were at a loss to explain today how the car could remain untraced even three days after it had been stolen despite several barricades put up by them in view of the Independence Day and today's Janmashtami celebrations.

In the FIR, the Presidential spokesman had mentioned that he had lost his personal bank documents that had been kept in the Maruti 800 white car bearing the registration number DL 7C 2380.

However, there was no official parking label pasted on the windscreen of the car.

INS is just a few metres from Parliament and about a kilometre from Rashtrapati Bhavan, South Block, where the offices of the Prime Minister, External Affairs and Defence Ministries are located, and the North Block, which houses the Home and Finance Ministries.

The entire area that falls in Lutyen's Delhi continues to remain under a tight security in view of the I-day and Janmashtami celebrations to prevent July 11-like incidents of Mumbai, the scene of serial blasts on its local trains.

UNI