Punjab DGP P S Gill, recently transferred here after a stint in trouble-prone Jammu and Kashmir, has deputed 80 Blackcat commandos of the state police for his own security.

This team augments the regular security deployed for the officer and has been specifically sent to Chandigarh to guard the campus where the DGP is staying — at the Gazetted Officers’ Mess behind the Punjab Civil Secretariat. Incidentally, two battalions of the Punjab Armed Police are also stationed here.

An officer said the state DGP is entitled to 11 gunmen as per provisions laid down in the internal security committee recommendations, 2005. “The DGP of the Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, R S Gill — brother of the state DGP — has 10 security personnel in keeping with the rules but most senior officers have more. They have been asked to scale down security,” the officer added. P S Gill has nearly 20 gunmen.

The DGP’s decision, however, caused a flutter at the police headquarters on Wednesday with the law and order wing asking their security counterparts to send back this commando force to Jalandhar to complete training. But the security section was adamant that they would stay on.

While Gill would not meet The Indian Express, Additional Director General H R Chadha said: “A company of commandos has been sent to Chandigarh to guard the two battalions already stationed there. There is no barbed fence in the campus or walls. The need for enhanced security was felt since the DGP is also staying here temporarily.”

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