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Three years after there was a major breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security, en route a rally in Ferozepur, Punjab – his convoy was blocked on a flyover for around half an hour – it emerges that the state police booked the accused under an attempt to murder charge eleven months after the incident, but kept this under wraps out of fear of antagonising farmers, whose protests had held up the PM, and who constitute an important vote bank.

- Coovercolly Indresh

CHANDIGARH/FEROZEPUR: The matter only came to light during court proceedings on Thursday.

The charge under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code was added by the Special Investigation Team formed by the Ferozepur police to probe the case against 26 accused named in the FIR and several others unidentified accused.

It came to light on Thursday as the court dismissed a pre-arrest bail plea filed by one of the accused, Kamaljeet Singh.

The incident, which occurred on January 5, 2022, forced the Prime Minister to cancel his engagement, and also embarrassed the Punjab Police and Civil Administration (the state was governed by the Congress then), as it was the first such incident in India.

Following the incident, sub-inspector Birbal Singh filed a complaint against unidentified individuals at the Kulgarhi police station under Section 283 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which addresses minor public nuisances and is a bailable offence. SIT expanded the charges to include IPC sections 307 (attempted murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant), 341 (wrongful restraint), and provisions of the National Highway Act, citing the severity of obstructing the PM's security convoy. This fact was added to FIR in December 2022 but came to light on Thursday.