After the security breach incident that endangered the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Punjab, a group of former IPS officers urged President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday (January 6) to take immediate action as they alleged ‘intentional and planned security lapse’ by the state government in collusion with protesters.
In a letter to Kovind, 27 former Indian Police Service (IPS) officers said it was ‘one of the gravest security lapses in the history of this country committed through conspiracy and collusion.
Protesters blocking the prime minister’s route “was not only a sheer lapse of security but a shameful open display of collusion of the state machinery with the so-called protestors to embarrass and harm” him, they added.
Former Punjab director general of police (DGP) P C Dogra and former Maharashtra DGP Praveen Dixit are among the 27 signatories to the letter.
“The stoppage of the carcade of the prime minister for 15 to 20 minutes in a planned manner on a flyover demonstrates poor law and order in Punjab and threatens the democracy in our country,’ they said, noting that the Punjab police was primarily responsible for Modi’s travel and security within the state and had to provide a secure passage on all the routes, in accordance with the established protocol.
‘We are approaching yourself for the reason that it has never happened that the state agencies are making one or the other excuse and there are contradictory statements even at the level of chief minister regarding the prime minister’s route,” they said.
“We, the former police officers, request your honour to take immediate action on this matter having serious bearing on national security and state responsibility to maintain law and order in a border state going for election in a few months,” they wrote in the letter to the president.
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