Ferozepur SSP guilty: Supreme Court panel

New Delhi: A Supreme Court-appointed committee to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab in January has found that the Ferozepur SSP failed to discharge his duty though sufficient force was available.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will send the report of the five-member committee headed by former apex court judge Indu Malhotra to the Centre for appropriate action. "The Ferozepur SSP failed to discharge his duty to maintain law and order. He failed to do this even though sufficient force was available and even though he was informed two hours before that PM will enter that route," the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana and also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said while reading from the committee's report.

On January 5, Modi'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. Alleging a "conspiracy", party leader and Union minister Anurag Thakur said then chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the director general of police "were missing" during Modi's visit.

"Prime Minister Modi's convoy was stopped in the middle of a bridge, only 100 metres away from protesters and 10 km away from Pakistan.

The Punjab Police remained a mute spectator and then chief minister Channi was taking instructions from his party bosses in Delhi," Thakur said. "Anything could have happened to the prime minister. Just two minutes were enough," he said, pointing that Modi had to wait on the bridge for 20 minutes as Channi was busy on the call.