CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh Administration has decided to shift the headquarters of the Chandigarh Police from Sector 17 to Sector 9 near the Deluxe Building as a security measure

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by the Home Secretary R.N.Prasher last week. Among others who attended the meeting was R.S.Gupta Inspector General of Police Chandigarh O.P.Mehta Chief Architect Chandigarh.

Prasher said that Mehta had recommended that the police headquarters should be shifted to anew block known as “additional offices block” as entry to it could be regulated. The offices located in the “additional offices block” would be shifted w the police headquarters building.

The police are said to be finding it difficult to keep an eye on all vehicles coming near the police headquarters as it is located in the heart of the city’s busiest shopping center. Location of a large number of offices in the area has made the task of cordoning off the police headquarters building more difficult. The police feel that presence of a large number of people near the police headquarters is a security-risk.

After the recent attempt on the life of the Senior Superintendent of Police Sumedh Saini parking of vehicles in front of the Estate Office building has been banned. The police headquarters building has been cordoned off.

Meanwhile investigations into the attack on Saini have not made much headway as no clue has been found to the owner of the car in which the bomb had been planted. The name of the owner of the car has been found to be fake.

It is now claimed that the two constables arrested a few days before the attack on Saini had told during interrogation that militants would use a car bomb to kill the SSP. The police had been keeping a close watch on the area around the Bridge Market in Sector 17 and on a bridge near Saini’s residence in Sector 16. The manholes on the routes which Saini normally used were also under watch. Some militants had even tried to induce some policemen to plant a bomb inside the police headquarters building. The car in which the bomb was planted was seen by the police in Sector 17 a day before the incident.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 27, 1991