US security department apologises to Praful Patel quizzing him at airport

The US Homeland Security has apologised to civil aviation minister Praful Patel who was questioned by the immigration authorities in Chicago as his name and date of birth happened to match that of a person on Amerca's watch-list.

Patel had gone to Chicago on a personal visit to meet his son en route to Montreal. This was the second such incident of his namesake landing Patel in trouble. He was earlier quizzed in New York for the same reason.

The minister was asked the reason for his visit to US and whether he had stayed in the country.

However, despite a number of requests from ministry officials, the US authorities have not corrected the anomaly in their vigil list. Following the second incident Patel has now decided to always carry his diplomatic passport with him.

Janet Napolitano, US secretary for homeland security later apologised to Patel over the issue.

She also gave as assurance that the US would do whatever was necessary to ensure such incidents did not occur in future, according to the officials of the civil aviation ministry.

The minister had earlier sought to downplay the incident and said there was nothing serious about what had happened.