Siddharth Chattopadhyay, Punjab’s DGP, has been fired after protesters blocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy. Viresh Kumar Bhavra has been appointed the new DGP for Punjab. This report was released by Republic TV. The Central government sent Chattopadhyay a notice today asking him to respond. Legal action would follow if he failed to do so.
An investigation of the alleged security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab on January 5 is currently underway. As part of the ongoing investigation, a committee that is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has summoned 14 top police officials, including the DGP of Punjab, who were in charge of the PM’s safety during his visit to Ferozpur on January 5.
The Home Ministry had earlier appointed a three-member committee to investigate the security lapse during PM Modi’s visit to Punjab on Wednesday. On Friday, the committee summoned 14 Punjab police officials, including S Chattopadhyaya, the Punjab ADGP, Patiala’s IGP and Ferozpur’s DIG. The three-member committee set up by the MHA to probe the ‘serious lapses’ is being led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat.
Balbir Singh, Joint Director, IB, and S Suresh, Internal Guard, SPG make up the Committee. The Punjab government has also formed a two-member committee to probe the dereliction of the Prime Minister’s security. In an earlier notice, the MHA asked the Bathinda Police chief to submit his response by 5 pm on January 8. In response to a grave security breach involving Prime Minister Modi, the Home Ministry has asked SSP Bathinda to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him.
Prime Minister Modi was forced to skip the Ferozepur rally on Wednesday due to security concerns after arriving in Punjab. Due to poor weather, the PM chose to travel by road rather than by air to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainwala. As reported by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there was a major lapse in the PM’s security as he was held up for 15-20 minutes due to a road blockade around 30 km from his destination.
Since no additional security was provided by the Punjab government as part of the contingency plan, PM Modi returned to the Bathinda Airport, according to the MHA. Furthermore, it requested a detailed report from the Congress government in Punjab and demanded strict action. Charanjit Singh Channi, however, indicated that the state government had no knowledge of PM Modi’s route change. The Prime Minister was ‘absolutely not under threat’, he said, downplaying the claim of a security breach.
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