Action against others ‘in process’
Jupinderjit Singh
Chandigarh, November 25
Nearly two years after a major security lapse took place during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Ferozepur, the Punjab Police today suspended seven officials, including a Superintendent of Police (SP).
The inquiry report by a committee formed by the Supreme Court to probe the lapse had indicted several top officials, including the then Home Secretary and the DGP, besides officials in the rank of ADGP to SSPs. The report had focused on IPS officials. It had, however, asked the state government to look into the role of Punjab Police Service officials in the security lapse. Those suspended include Bathinda SP Gurbinder Singh, who was Ferozepur’s SP when the security lapse took place. He was the in-charge of a reserve force formed to react to any call of emergency. Earlier, there was no mention that the reserve force was pressed into service immediately after the PM’s cavalcade was stopped on the way to Ferozepur due to a road blockade by farmers.
Those suspended
SP, Bathinda, Gurbinder Singh, DSPs Prason Singh and Jagdish Kumar; inspectors Jatinder Singh and Balwinder Singh; sub-inspector Jaswant Singh; and ASI Ramesh Kumar. All of them were posted in Ferozepur at that time.
The others suspended are DSPs Prason Singh and Jagdish Kumar; inspectors Jatinder Singh and Balwinder Singh; sub-inspector Jaswant Singh; and ASI Ramesh Kumar.
Home Secretary Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, who issued the suspension orders on November 22, referred to a report by the state DGP into the security lapse.
The Home Secretary told The Tribune that action against other officials was under consideration. The committee, headed by Justice Indu Malhotra (retd), had NIA’s former chief Kuldeep Singh, Chandigarh DGP Praveer Ranjan and Special DGP, Punjab, Sharad Satya Chauhan as members who recommended action against officials far senior than the suspended SP. It had specifically asked for strict action against three officials — then DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, Ferozepur DIG Inderbir Singh and Ferozepur SSP Harman Hans. It had also called for action against then Home Secretary Anirudh Tewari and other officials.