7 police officers in Punjab suspended for PM Modi’s security breach
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New Delhi: Seven police officers in Punjab have been suspended for the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state last year.
The then Superintendent of Police in Ferozepur district and two DSP rank officials are among those suspended for the breach that had taken place on January 5.
PM Modi, who was to attend a campaign rally ahead of state Assembly polls, was stranded on a flyover for about 20 minutes from a blockade by protesting farmers.
Back then, BJP leaders had come down heavily on the then Charanjit Singh Channi government for the lapse in the Prime Minister’s travel arrangement.
However, the Congress claimed that the travel plans of PM Modi had been tweaked at the last moment.
Subsequently a committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the case, held several state officers responsible for the incident.
The Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government has taken action against seven police officers for the lapse.
It is reported that Gurbinder Singh, then Ferozepur police chief and now Bathinda SP was suspended earlier and the list on November 22 order includes six more policemen.
The state home department order reportedly announced the suspension of DSP-rank officers Parson Singh and Jagdish Kumar, Inspectors Jatinder Singh and Balwinder Singh, Sub-Inspector Jaswant Singh and Assistant Sub-Inspector Ramesh Kumar.
The officers, according to the order, will face action under relevant rules with penalties ranging from withholding of promotion to dismissal from service.