A day after suspending Bathinda Superintendent of Police (SP) Gurbinder Singh, Punjab police have suspended six additional policemen for alleged dereliction of duty during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state in January 2022.
According to the November 22 order from the State’s Home Department, the suspended officers include two Deputy Superintendents of Police, along with Inspectors, a sub-inspector, and an assistant sub-inspector. The cops are Parson Singh, Jagdish Kumar, Jatinder Singh, Balwinder Singh, Jaswant Singh, and Ramesh Kumar, as PTI reported.
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SP Gurbinder Singh, who was serving in Bathinda district, was suspended on Saturday.
As per the order, all seven policemen have been named in a charge sheet under Section 8 of the Punjab Civil Services rules (punishment and appeal) 1970.
On January 5 2022, the Prime Minister’s convoy faced a delay of 15-20 minutes while en route Ferozpur, Punjab, due to a road blockade by protesters. resulting in his return from Punjab without attending any event and the cancellation of a rally.
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A Supreme Court-appointed committee, which investigated the security breach during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Punjab in January 2022, had indicted several state officers for lapses.
The committee, appointed by the apex court on January 12 last year to probe the breach, noted that the matter could not rely solely on “one-sided inquiries,” as it necessitated “judicially trained independent minds” for a thorough investigation.
(With PTI Inputs)