Supreme Court-formed team visits PM Modi 'security breach' site

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, February 6

A high-powered team set up by the Supreme Court under the former judge, Justice Indu Malhotra (retd), arrived here this morning to investigate the alleged lapses in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security during his visit to Ferozepur on January 5. The PM was forced to return without attending the official function and BJP’s rally.

The court-appointed team visited the overbridge near Piareana village on the Ferozepur-Moga road where the PM’s cavalcade remained stuck for almost 20 minutes, triggering a nationwide debate over the “breach” of security.

The team stayed there for around half an hour to inspect the site. Later, it visited Ferozeshah village where farmers had assembled to start a protest march, but were prevented by the police to move towards Ferozepur due to which they staged a protest on the road itself. Besides, the team visited the rally site to piece together the sequence of events. The member held a closed-door meeting at the BSF Sector Headquarters.

The team did not share any details about the investigation. Police officials also remained tight-lipped about the visit.

On January 13, the SC had set up the five-member committee under Justice Malhotra (retd), which also included the IG, National Investigation Agency; the DGP, Chandigarh, the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Additional DGP (Security) of the Punjab Police, to probe the matter and ascertain alleged lapses in PM’s security, and to further fix the accountability of erring officials.

The court had also stayed the inquiry committees set up both by the Centre and state to investigate the alleged security breach.

The court had directed the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to provide all documents related to the security arrangements made by the state government to the panel head.

Earlier, a team constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs had visited the site on January 7, two days after the incident and had summoned several senior police and civil officials, including Punjab DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, ADGP Nageshwar Rao besides 13 other officials who were deployed for PM Narendra Modi’s security. The officials were asked to appear before the team in person at the BSF Sector Headquarters, 10 km from the spot where the incident took place on the NH 5. However, the inquiry was halted following the intervention of the SC. The MHA team had also served show-cause notices to district officials of Ferozepur and Bathinda.

Even Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had constituted a committee comprising of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (Retd) and Anurag Verma, Principal Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice, to conduct an investigation.

Convoy stranded for 20 minutes

• On January 5, PM’s convoy was stranded on an overbridge for 20 minutes on the Ferozepur-Moga highway, triggering a debate over “breach” of security
• On January 13, the SC set up a five-member committee to probe matter and ascertain alleged lapses, and to further fix accountability of erring officials.
• The court had stayed the inquiry committees set up both by the Centre and state to investigate the alleged security breach