NEW DELHI, Jan 10: Even as the Supreme Cort said on Monday that it will set
up an independent committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge to probe
the security lapse that occurred during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit
to Punjab on January 5, over a dozen apex court advocates received threatening
calls from what has been reported as international calls from the US-based outfit
called Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a militant organisation fighting for the creation
of a separate State of Khalistan for Sikhs within India.
The advocates told media that the calls apparently came from a UK number reportedly
belonging to the SFJ and owned up responsibility for the blockade of the Modi's
convoy. The anonymous caller also threatened the judges against hearing the
plea for investigation as they could not punish the perpetrators of the 1984
anti-Sikh riots.
The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association has written to the Secretary-General
of the Supreme Court seeking action against the caller. According to the letter,
several advocates-on-record received the anonymous automated pre-recorded call
from +447418365564, one at 10:40 am and another at 12:36 pm on Monday.
"I received a call from a UK number which said that they would take responsibility
for the blockade the motorcade of the PM. The caller said that SC should not
be hearing the matter when they did not find a single culprit responsible for
the killing of Sikhs in 1984," one of the advocates who received the call told
Times Now. "I received two calls. It said that we take the responsibility for
blocking the PM's cavalcade. It was a pre-recorded message of 47 seconds," Advocate
Vishnu Jain told Times Now.
The calls, if proved to be true, reveals a suspected conspiracy behind the
blockade that happened in Punjab's Ferozepur.
Meanwhile, the farmers who were protesting over MSP on the Prime Minister's
route reportedly said that they were not aware of a last-minute change in Modi's
route and that he was going to travel on the same road as they were protesting.
As per the official itinerary, the Prime Minister was scheduled to take the
helicopter to his rally venue.
The apex court said that that the DGP of Chandigarh, NIA IG and the Registrar-General
of Punjab and Haryana High Court may be part of the proposed panel to probe
the incident of lapses in security during Modi's visit. The Central and State
inquiries may not materialise in view of the Supreme Court instituting a probe.
The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by an organisation, Lawyers Voice,
seeking a court-monitored investigation into the breach in Modi's security.
On January 5, the Prime Minister's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a
blockade by farmers protesting over MSP in Ferozepur. He returned from poll-
bound Punjab without attending the rally.
