The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to form a committee headed by a retired judge of the court to investigate the alleged breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security on January 5 in Punjab, Live Law reported.

The court said that the director general of the National Investigation Agency, the Additional Director General of the Intelligence Bureau and the Chandigarh Director General of Police will also be a part of the committee.

The bench said that it will issue an order shortly.

On January 5, Modi had to abort his visit to Punjab’s Ferozepur, which led to a massive controversy. His convoy was stuck on a flyover for over 15 minutes as protestors had blocked the road to Hussainiwala village in the district. The Centre had termed it a “major security lapse”.

The Supreme Court on Monday said that all other inquiries into the matter should be stopped, Bar and Bench reported

Earlier, the court asked the Centre why its inquiry committee issued a notice to a Punjab police officer although the matter was pending before the court, Bar and Bench reported.

In the previous hearing on January 7, the court had directed that the committees set by the Union government and Punjab government to look into the matter should halt their inquiries till January 10.

Justice Hima Kohli on Monday said that the committee, by issuing a show cause notice, appears to have shown that it has decided how it will go ahead. “So why should this court go into the matter at all?” she asked.

Justice Kohli said that even after the Supreme Court’s order, the central committee asked the Punjab government to reply within 24 hours, which was “not expected of you”.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government told the Supreme Court that it did not expect to get justice from a central government committee investigating the alleged breach in Modi’s security.

Before the court’s decision was made, Punjab Advocate General DS Patwalia demanded an independent investigation into the matter. He said that seven show-cause notices were issued to a Senior Superintendent of Police asking why action should not be taken against him.

Patwalia questioned why the notices were sent when the Supreme Court had directed both the central and state committees to halt their inquiries till Monday.

“Show cause notice premediates and assumes everything against us,” the advocate general said, according to Bar and Bench. “Twenty-four hours given for reply... I don’t expect a fair hearing at all.”

On the other hand, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that crowds had begun to gather in the area on the morning of January 5, Live Law reported. “There were no inputs from Director General of police which was his responsibility,” he said.

He added that there was a “complete intelligence failure”.

Mehta said that the state government was defending police officers allegedly involved, and said that this needs to be looked into.

The solicitor general also said that the road trip to Ferozepur was not an unscheduled one. “The PM was to travel by air on 5th, but it was intimated to all state agencies that there are climate issues and PM will travel by route also,” he said. “There was also a rehearsal.”

The case

An organisation named Lawyers Voice has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the matter, according to PTI. In the previous hearing, advocate Mahinder Singh, representing the organisation, had said that it needs to be ensured that such incidents are not repeated.

The Supreme Court then directed the Punjab and Haryana High Court to preserve travel records of Modi’s visit. The court directed officials of the Punjab Police, the Special Protection Group and other central and state agencies to provide necessary assistance to the registrar general of the the High Court, who is required to keep all the travel records in safe custody.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana also appointed Chandigarh Director General of Police Praveer Ranjan and an official of the National Investigation Agency to help the registrar general.