The Home Ministry on Monday dismissed Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s allegations about RSS infiltration in SPG as “baseless” and “devoid of fact”. In a statement, Home Ministry said that the former SPG Director Vivek Srivastava never had any talks on the matter with Rahul.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s recently in a meeting said that a former SPG chief had to quit because he refused to accept a list of officers handpicked by the RSS. “The comment reportedly made by Gandhi through the media is baseless, devoid of fact and unfortunate, coming from an SPG protectee,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The matter has been verified. The officer in question, Vivek Srivastava, former Director, Special Protection Group (SPG), has specifically averred that he did not have any such conversation with Rahul Gandhi at any point of time. The officer has stated that as part of his professional duties he interacted with SPG protectees; however, he has categorically stated that during his interaction with Shri Gandhi, there was no talk whatsoever regarding the appointment of a new Director, or the reasons for his leaving SPG,” said Home Ministry..

The SPG is a professional organisation that takes its task of protecting serving prime ministers, former prime ministers and their families entrusted to its security very seriously, and in the highest professional spirit, the ministry said.

Rahul Gandhi, at an interaction with academicians here Saturday, had alleged that educational institutions, the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India and others are “systematically being captured” by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Citing an example, the Congress chief had alleged, “When Mr (Narendra) Modi came to power, a person from Gujarat was chosen to head the SPG. In a short time, he left the position. He told me that he refused a list of SPG officers handpicked by the RSS, and that is why he was sent home.”