A month after the alleged “lapse” in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security during his Punjab visit on January 5, the five-member committee, set up by the Supreme Court, on Sunday reached the incident site at Ferozepur to probe the matter.
Notably, the Supreme Court had set up a five-member panel on January 12, headed by retired judge of the Apex Court, Justice Indu Malhotra, to probe into the security lapse.
During the panel’s first visit on Sunday, Justice Indu Malhotra inspected the flyover on which the Prime Minister was stuck for nearly 15 to 20 minutes on his way to the public meeting in Ferozepur.
Accompanied by Chandigarh UT Director General of Police (DGP), National Investigation Agency (NIA) inspector general, Punjab’s Additional DGP (Security), and the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Malhotra also visited the site where the Prime Minister was scheduled to address a political rally.
Notably, the complete record related to the Prime Minister’s visit has already made available to the committee.
In a major controversy before the assembly elections were announced in Punjab, the Prime Minister’s cavalcade got stuck in a road blockade in Piareana village near Hussainiwala for 15-20 minutes on the flyover — which the Union Ministry of Home Affairs described as a “major lapse” in his security. Following this, the convoy decided to return without attending an event at the National Martyrs’ Memorial, Hussainiwala, besides cancelling the political rally.
Modi, who was on his first visit to Punjab after revoking the contentious farm laws, was forced to cancel his much-talked-about rally and return to the national capital in the wake of the “security breach”, just about a few kilometres away from the Pakistan border.
Taking strong note of the “serious security lapse”, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the State Government asking how the PM’s cavalcade was stranded on a flyover for over 15 minutes due to a protest, when his programme had been duly communicated to the state police. At the same time, the Ministry has asked the State Government “to fix responsibility” for this lapse and take strict action.
After the incident, both the Centre and the Punjab Government had started their separate investigations. While Punjab formed a committee of retired Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Home Secretary Anurag Verma, the Centre also formed an inquiry committee headed by the Security Secretary along with Intelligence Bureau and SPG officers.