Washington:
In what is turning out to be a huge embarrassment for the US Secret Service, a day after they claimed a third gatecrasher entered the White House for Dr Singh's state dinner with the Indian delegation, the Indian Embassy has rejected this claim.
An Embassy statement said," No such person was a member of the Indian delegation. The person is not known to the Indian Embassy. The Embassy of India did not facilitate his access to the White House state dinner in honour of the Indian Prime Minister. The Embassy had requested for arrangements to be made for invited Indian CEOs who were part of the CEOs Forum to be taken to the state dinner. This person was not an Indian CEO."
US President Barack Obama's State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh included a third gatecrasher who had managed to attach himself to the Indian delegation and boarded its bus to sneak into White House in November, according to the US Secret Service.
Though the Secret Service has not yet released the name of this "uninvited" member, the 'Washington Post' has identified him as Carlos Allen, a local party promoter.
The Indian Embassy in Washington has denied that any such "uninvited individual" was part of the country's delegation. "No such person was a member of the Indian delegation. The Embassy of India did not arrange his access," a spokesman said.
In a statement released on Monday, the Secret Service said investigations into the security surrounding the event revealed that a third individual besides the attention-hungry couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, entered the State Dinner.
"It appears at this point that the subject traveled from a local hotel, where the official Indian delegation was staying and arrived at the dinner with the group, which was under the responsibility of Department of State.
"This individual went through all required security measures along with the rest of the official delegation at the hotel, and boarded a bus/van with the delegation guests en route to the White House," the Secret Service has said.