After Congress activists hurled eggs and showed black flags at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s cavalcade in the city on Thursday, the Commissionerate Police have started taking departmental actions against its officers who were on duty to look after the CM’s security. Twin City Commissioner of Police (CP) RP Sharma on Friday said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in-charge of the Kharavel Nagar zone SK Sarifuddin and Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Kharavel Nagar police station PK Sahu were suspended for dereliction of duty.
“A preliminary report has been submitted in this regard. We have recommended to the Government to take appropriate action against the officer responsible for the security breach,” said Sharma after a high-level meeting chaired by Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjeev Marik to take stock of the CM’s security. Marik admitted that there was a security lapse on the part of the Commissionerate Police. “We had got intelligence input at around 2 pm that some miscreants were planning to throw eggs and show black flag at the Chief Minister’s convoy. Clearly, there was negligence on the part of some police personnel on duty, which led to this security lapse,” he added.
The DGP said he had asked for a detailed report from the Commissioner of Police and Director, Intelligence on the security lapse. “I reviewed the report and have sent a recommendation to the Home Department suggesting disciplinary action against the responsible officers for breach of security during CM’s convoy,” he added. Meanwhile, the Commissionerate Police have arrested seven youth Congress supporters in the case but refused to provide their identities.