24 December,2010 06:36 AM IST | | Ketan Ranga
With the police sounding a red alert following inputs of four LeT men having sneaked into the city to carry out attacks during the New Year season, hotels are not taking any chances with their star performers' security
WITH the Mumbai police sounding an alarm yesterday about four LeT terrorists having sneaked into the city to carry out 'violent attacks' during the New Year period (see box) hotels are taking extra precautions to ensure the security of stars who will perform there for their year-end bashes.
There will be limited entries allowed to watch the stars perform this year due to security threats received by the police
Notable among them are the Sahara Star hotels at Vile Parle and Aamby Valley, where the organisers have decided to put a seven-tier security system in place for actresses Mallika Sherawat and Malaika Arora Khan.
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The two hotels will also have other stars including the whole Salman Khan family in attendance, along with big business tycoons.
The seven-tier security cordon will include police, security personnel, gadgetry like metal detectors, surveillance cameras, elevators with access keys, and sniffer dogs.
Rajesh Mohan, strategy head, Sahara Star hotel said, "We will have a seven-tier security in place for the New Year's Eve party at both venues.
The whole area will be under CCTV surveillance with security guards monitoring the feed around the clock. We will have security guards, policemen in plainclothes and metal detectors and baggage scanners."
Mohan revealed that the hotel has hired 500 security personnel for the Vile Parle venue and 250 for the Aamby Valley one.
"People will have access cards of the floors that they need to go to, which will have to be swiped for the elevators to move. We have limited our entries to 2,500 people for security purposes.
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There will be a control room to monitor the CCTV cameras," he added.
Others too
"The focus on security this year is greater than in previous years," said Ankit Anand, partner, Red Om entertainment, which is organising a year-end bash at Novotel Hotel, Juhu.
"We have made it mandatory for guests to submit some identification before the passes are issued to them. Also, our security budget is higher this year."
Hitesh Keswani, who is organising a party at a lounge in Worli, has also decided to go tough on security.
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Apart from hiring people for scanning guests' bags, Keswani has also hired around 25 bouncers who will be present at the venue.
500
Security personnel for the Vile Parle venue where the stars are performing
250
Security personnel for the Aaamby Valley venue
2,500
Total gathering at both the venues
Red alert
AT a press conference late last evening, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy issued an advisory to Mumbaikars to stay alert.
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He said the Mumbai Police had received intelligence inputs of four LeT operatives having sneaked into the city.
"They have been identified as Abdul Kareem Moosa, Noor Abu Ilahi, Walid Jinnah and Mahfooz Alam.
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They recently sneaked into the city to carry out extremely dangerous activities, possibly during the upcoming Christmas and New Year festivities," Roy said while releasing a sketch of Jinnah.
