After grilling him US apologises to Praful Patel

Washington : After grilling him as a terror suspect at an airport, the US Homeland Security has apologised to India’s Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.

Patel, who is also All India Football Federation’s president, was grilled by the immigration authorities in Chicago as his name and date of birth happened to match with that of a person on America’s watch-list.

Patel, who was in Chicago on a private visit and flew to Montreal for attending an official engagement, was stopped on Monday and quizzed at the O’Hare airport.

He was asked why he was visiting the US and whether he had stayed in the country earlier.

US Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, later apologised to Patel over the issue, giving an assurance that the US would do whatever required to make necessary amends to prevent any such incidents in the future, Civil Aviation Ministry officials in New Delhi said.

Patel has earlier sought to downplay the episode and said nothing serious had happened.

“I am in Montreal and nothing serious has happened…there is a person with similar name and birth date. That’s why
they just double checked,” he said.