Centre forms 3-member committee to probe into PM Modi's security lapse

The ministry announced that the committee to look into the lapses that led to the “exposure of the VVIP to grave security risk” will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, secretary (security), Cabinet Secretariat.

The ministry of home affairs on Thursday constituted a three-member committee to probe into the serious lapses in the security arrangement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur. The ministry announced that the committee will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, secretary (security), Cabinet Secretariat.

The Punjab government has been claiming that the protesters were quite distant from the cavalcade of the PM. (ANI)

The two other members are Balbir Singh, Joint Director, intelligence bureau, and S. Suresh, IG, special protection group (SPG).

The committee is advised to submit the report at the earliest, the ministry said.

Prime Minister Modi's scheduled visit to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala and a programme in Ferozepur got cancelled after his convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes on Wednesday. The home ministry stated that the convoy was stuck on a flyover around 30 kilometres away from the memorial of freedom fighters as the road was blocked by some protestors.

"This was a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister,” the ministry said in a statement following the incident.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has blamed the Congress-led Punjab government over the alleged security breach, chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi has maintained that there were no lapses in the security. Channi argued that the road was blocked by some unarmed protesting farmers, saying they were no threat to life for PM Modi.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha said in a statement that some affiliated farmer organisations had announced a symbolic protest over the arrest of Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni and other outstanding demands. SKM stated that farmers had no concrete information that the PM's convoy was going to pass through the flyover where it got stuck.

"It's clear from video of the occasion that protesting farmers didn't even make any effort to go towards PM's convoy. Only a group with BJP flag& raising 'Narendra Modi Zindabad' slogan had reached near that convoy. Therefore, threat to the life of PM seems completely concocted," it claimed.