Himanta demands arrest of Punjab CM for his role in PM's security breach

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday demanded the arrest of his Punjab counterpart Charanjit Singh Channi for his role in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the 'security breach' when he was visiting the northern state.

He also claimed that the Congress high command was a part of the alleged conspiracy to kill the prime minister

The demonstrators on the road who held up the prime minister's cavalcade at a fly-overf in Ferozepur for about 20 minutes on January 5 were "radicals". The protestors on the road were not farmers but supporters of Khalistan," he asserted.

Sarma, who is among the important leaders of BJP in the north east, claimed All evidence make it clear that Congress high command and the Punjab CM conspired to kill Prime Minister Modi ... He is involved in this international conspiracy supported by radical elements to kill our prime minister. He should be ,arrested for conspiring to kill the PM of our country.

A high-level enquiry should be conducted into the entire incident, he told a press conference here.

Sarma referred to a purported sting operation by a television channel in Punjab which claimed that the police had intelligence report on January 2 itself about an attempt to kill the prime minister and said if the Punjab police knew of the conspiracy, the chief minister of that state must also have known about it.

The sting operation has a DSP of Punjab Police CID branch clearly saying that he had reports on January 2 itself of a protest during the PM's visit that would threaten his life. The DSP had conveyed it to his senior officer also. But the police did not take any measure to protect the prime minister, rather they conspired against him, he claimed.

Sarma said that in the reported sting operation another official had said there was no instruction from the government to act against the attackers' and statements by Congress leaders after the incident indicate that they knew of the conspiracy.

Channi, he said, should have briefed the president or the prime minister on the incident, but he was "busy giving updates to Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders", who made insensitive statements' about it.

The union home ministry had called the incident a major security lapse.