November 28, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 17, 1428

KOLKATA, Nov 27: Under the shadow of a terror threat on the India-Pakistan Test match starting here from Friday, both teams arrived on Tuesday under heavy security and were whisked to a hotel that has become a veritable fortress.

There were several layers of security at the airport as the team buses rolled out of the tarmac from the VIP gates. The players and support staff boarded the buses from the apron area after getting off from a Jet Airways flight.

An Indian team official said the squad was without Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Kartik, RP Singh and S Sreesanth and fielding coach Robin Singh.

Sreesanth and Singh, who will arrive on Friday, have been ruled out of the Test match on account of injuries.

Danish Kaneria and Mohammed Yousuf of the Pakistani team would arrive here on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, the Taj Bengal, where the teams are staying, has been converted into a virtual fortress, with every inch of the hotel put under surveillance.

Joint Commissioner of Police PK Chatterjee said: “We have taken all possible security measures. There is no room for any mistake.”

He said that keeping in mind an e-mail threat against the match, Deputy Commissioner Dilip Banerjee had been asked to oversee the security measures with the help four senior police officers.

While the Rapid Action Force of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is in charge of the four entry points to the hotel, the Quick Reaction Team and Special Action Force of the Kolkata Police as well as bomb experts have been deployed inside the building.

Earlier the entire hotel was sanitised with metal detectors and sniffer dogs. Even the routes the two teams will take to the stadium have been put under watch.

The Indian and Pakistani teams are staying on the first and second floors respectively. Chatterjee said that the police have arranged for baggage scanners like those at the airports.

Supervised by a deputy commissioner of police, a large contingent has been deployed in and around the hotel. Chatterjee said a bomb disposal squad has also been posted at the hotel, along with sniffer dogs.—Agencies