A youth of Chandannagar in Hooghly district allegedly broke the security cordon for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give him a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore at the podium of the convocation ceremony of Visva Bharati University (VBU) in Amrakunja here on Friday.

The incident occurred after the convocation ceremony got over and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed along with state chief minister Mamata Banerjee had left the podium.

Mr Modi was visibly surprised as the person tried to give him a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore. The Special Protection Group (SPG) commandoes caught him and removed him from the dias, only to hand him over to the local police. He was interrogated at Santiniketan police station later.

The incident raised a question on the security arrangements put in place by SPG personnel from New Delhi. When contacted, officiating V-C of VBU, Mr Sabujkali Sen, said: “I have seen the incident, I was present on the dias then. I don’t know the person.”

The police said that the incident is being probed. Besides the Prime Ministers of Indian and Bangladesh, state governor, state chief minister and other VVIP dignitaries were present at Santiniketan on Friday.

Meanwhile, Mr Modi apologised to the students of the university as its vice-chancellor. PM Modi said, he learnt about the paucity of drinking water at Santiniketan while coming to the institution.

“As I was coming by car, some children gestured to me that they don’t even have drinking water. As the chancellor, I tender my apology,” Mr Modi said as he started his speech at the university.

Six-tier security arrangement system had been put in place in Amrakunja on Friday, as a result of which students were not allowed to carry water bottles. Due to extreme humidity, students faced problems.

Many of them did not receive any pouch and some of them even fainted due to excessive heat and dearth of drinking water. VBU had sought 6000 water pouches , while the total number of attendees went beyond 10,000, leading to such a crisis. Several youths protested outside the convocation ceremony venue over non-availability of drinking water.