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Punjab: A total of seven police officers have been suspended in connection with the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab last year. These includes the names of Bathinda SP Singh, DSP Singh, DSP Jagdish Kumar, Inspector Tejinder Singh, Inspector Balwinder Singh, Inspector Jatinder Singh and ASI Rakesh Kumar.
The security breach happened on January 5 last year when Prime Minister Modi was in Punjab to attend a rally in the run-up to the Assembly polls. When PM Modi arrived at the airport to go back to Delhi, on his behalf, he thanked the Chief Minister of Punjab in the then Congress government, Charanjit Singh Channi, saying that he came back alive, thanks to the CM for this. After this there was a lot of controversy regarding the matter.
The Prime Minister’s convoy was stranded on a flyover for about 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesting farmers. An inquiry committee was formed by the Supreme Court regarding the security lapses of PM Modi in Ferozepur. In its report, the inquiry committee indicted then Punjab Chief Secretary Anirudh Tiwari and DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyay.
After this, this committee submitted the inquiry report to the Supreme Court as well as the Central Government in August 2022. While BJP leaders had targeted the then Charanjit Singh Channi government over the lapse, the Congress had said the Prime Minister’s travel plans were tweaked at the last moment.
A Supreme Court-appointed committee that probed the security breach had held several state officers responsible for the security breach. In September 2022, a letter was written to the Punjab government on behalf of the central government to take action against the guilty officials. A year later, seven police officers have been suspended while acting in the case on behalf of the Punjab Police.
