NIA to assist in seizure of records related to PM's security breach

The National Investigation Agency NIA has constituted an Inspector General IG level team to assist the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure and seize the records related to Prime Ministers security breach during his visit to Punjab on January 5As per a senior NIA official the antiterror agency has nominated Inspector General of Police Santosh Rastogi to assist the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure and seize the records related to the visit of Prime Minister to Punjab on January 5 2022 from State and Central AgenciesDirectorGeneral NIA issued an order in this regard on Friday the officer said clarifying there is no probeSources also said that the team comprises seven other officers including three Deputy Inspector General level officersThe move comes after the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA asked the NIA DG Kuldiep Singh to constitute the team The DG then issued a written order on Friday to form a teamThe officers who will assist Rastogi in the investigation include DIGs Vidhi Kumar Bidhi Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar and Amit Kumar Superintendents of Police Amit Singh Tejinder Singh and Shankar B RaimedhiThe development comes hours after the MHA constituted threemember committee summoned Punjab Police Director General Siddharth Chattopadhyaya Punjab ADGP Patiala IGP and Ferozpur DIG along with over a dozen top Punjab Police officers who were responsible for the Prime Ministers security during his visit to Punjabs Ferozpur on January 5The MHA on Thursday constituted a threemember committee led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena Secretary Security Cabinet Secretariat Balbir Singh Joint Director IB and S Suresh IG Special Protection GroupThe Centre is considering action under the Special Protection Group SPG Act against Punjab Police officers following the breach in the security of Prime Minister Modi during his visit to Punjab on January 5Section 14 of the SPG Act makes the state government responsible for providing all assistance to the SPG during the PMs movementThe provision titled Assistance to Group states It shall be the duty of every Ministry and Department of the Central Government or the State Government or the Union Territory Administration every Indian Mission every local or other authority or every civil or military authority to act in aid of the Director or any member of the Group whenever called upon to do so in furtherance of the duties and responsibilities assigned to such Director or memberThe MHAs threemember team started its probe on Friday from its visit at the flyover where Prime Ministers convoy was stuck for over 1520 minutes due to a road blockade by protesters during his visitThe MHA on Thursday constituted the threemember committee to enquire into the serious lapses in the security arrangements during PMs visit to Punjabs Ferozepur on Wednesday which led to the exposure of the VVIP to grave security riskHome Ministry Spokesperson in a Tweet on Thursday had informed about the formation of the threemember committee which is advised to submit the report at the earliestThe move comes after the Home Ministry on Wednesday also sought a detailed report from the Punjab government over the security lapse and asked it to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict actionThe Home Ministry in a statement had then informed that it has asked the state government to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict actionThe action was taken after the Prime Ministers convoy during its visit to National Martyrs Memorial in Punjab reached a flyover where the road was blocked by some protestorsThe Prime Minister was stuck on the flyover for 1520 minutes This was a major lapse in the security of the Prime MinisterThe Punjab government has also constituted a highlevel committee to probe the incidentPrime Minister Modi landed at Bathinda on January 5 morning from where he was to go to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopterDue to rain and poor visibility the Prime Minister waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out said a Home Ministry statement issued thenWhen the weather did not improve it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road which would take more than two hours the statement saidPM then proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police mentions the statementAround 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala when the Prime Ministers convoy reached a flyover it was found that the road was blocked by some protestorsThe Prime Minister was stuck on a flyover for 1520 minutesThis was a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister reads the statementThe Home Ministry then said that the Prime Ministers schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to the Punjab governmentAs per procedure the Home Ministry said they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics security as well as keep a contingency plan readyAlso in view of the contingency plan the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road which were clearly not deployed After this security lapse it was decided to head back to Bathinda Airport