Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday ordered "disciplinary proceedings for major penalty" against former DGP S Chattopadhyaya and two other police officers over Prime Minister's security breach during his visit to the state in January last year. Inderbir Singh, the then deputy inspector general (DIG) of police of Ferozepur range, and Harmandeep Singh Hans, the then senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Ferozepur, will face the "disciplinary proceedings for major penalty" order by the CM along with the former DGP. The officers will also have to submit their responses.
According to the Home Affairs department's communication to the Personnel department issued on Monday, Chief Minister Mann decided to seek explanations from G Nageshwara Rao, the then ADGP Cyber Crime, Naresh Arora, the then ADGP (Law and Order), Mukhvinder Singh Chhina, the then IGP Patiala Range, Surjeet Singh, the then DIG Faridkot, Rakesh Agrawal, the then IG Counter Intelligence, and Charanjit Singh, the then SSP Moga. Mann wanted to seek explanations from the officers as to why disciplinary proceedings should not be initiated against them as recommended in the Supreme Court-constituted inquiry committee report.
Also read: Punjab government to submit PM's security breach report soon: Raghav Chadha
Supreme Court-appointed committee investigating the security breach during Prime Minister Modi's visit to Punjab in January 2022, indicted several state officers for lapses. The Supreme Court appointed the committee to probe the breach on January 12, 2022. Last month, the Union Home Secretary had written to the Punjab chief secretary to submit an action taken report on the matter.
A few days ago, Punjab Chief Secretary V K Janjua said that an action taken report will be sent by the state government to the Centre. Janua had also said that penalties to the erring officials can include stopping increments, demotion, and in the worse cases dismissal of those still in service. The security breach that happened on January 5, 2022, led to a major political controversy.
