The Supreme Court on Wednesday, January 12 appointed a five-member committee headed by former apex court judge Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Punjab. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana also appointed the Inspector General of the National Investigation Agency, Director General of Police of Chandigarh, the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Additional DGP (Security) of Punjab as members to the Justice Malhotra panel.
The top court directed the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to provide all the seized documents pertaining to the security arrangements made by the Punjab government for the PM's January 5 visit immediately to the panel head. The bench also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said that it was expected that the panel would file its report shortly.
Meanwhile, a fresh petition seeking a National Investigation Agency probe into the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab on January 5 was filed before the Supreme Court on January 10.
The petition sought a direction to the NIA or any other specialised probe agency to investigate the role of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, state Chief Secretary Anirudh Tewari, Director General of Police Sidharth Chattopadhyaya and senior superintendent of police, Ferozpur, Harmandeep Singh Hans in the incident.
To uphold the rule of law and to ensure safety of life of an ordinary citizen, the authorities empowered to carry out rule of law, if found in breach of the same, must be brought to book. Therefore, the petitioner has preferred the instant petition praying for thorough investigation in the incident dated January 5 through specialized prosecuting agency like NIA or any other agency as this court may deem fit and proper, said the petition filed by advocate Barun Kumar Sinha.
The top court is also hearing a plea of an organisation, Lawyers Voice, seeking a thorough investigation into the breach in Modi's security in Punjab to ensure there is no such incident in the future.
On January 5, the Prime Minister's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur after which he returned from Punjab without attending any event, including a rally.