A local station house officer was suspended, and the wife of the alleged shooter was arrested on Thursday, two days after a medical store owner gunned down anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa, police said.
The police sent Ashwani Kumar, the alleged shooter, and his associate, Vipin Kumar, to seven days’ police remand.
Known for raising his voice against drug abuse and illegal sale of addictive substances at chemist shops, Jhota was shot in broad daylight inside a medical store at a busy marketplace in Mansa on Tuesday. Responding to a ‘Punjab bandh’ call given by Singh, streets and markets in Punjab wore a deserted look on Thursday as shops and private schools in several districts remained shut. The police sent Ashwani Kumar, the alleged shooter, and his associate, Vipin Kumar, to seven days’ police remand. Both were produced before a court in Mansa through video conferencing. The police have arrested Ashwani’s wife, Neelam Rani, and his associate, Laadi. He was nabbed in Salasar, Rajasthan. “What was his drug network? The gun is yet to be seized. Ashwani Kumar, the store owner who opened fire at Jhota after he questioned him for selling addictive drugs to an elderly man, was taken into custody from Salasar in Rajasthan. Jhota’s body lies at the mortuary of the civil hospital in Mansa. A joint action committee comprising various organisations and social activists formed after Jhota’s murder has demanded the resignations of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and DGP Gaurav Yadav, the dismissal of several local officers and the drug inspector. They also demanded a CBI probe into the matter. opposition leaders have claimed a complete breakdown of law and order While Mann has vowed the strictest punishment for those behind the killing. His campaign brought him into the crosshairs of drug smugglers in Mansa and politicians and government officials allegedly involved in the trade, Singh alleged. Protesters also blocked several roads in response to the bandh call. The shutdown call was backed by the Congress, Akali Dal, BJP, Akali Dal Waris Punjab De, Samyukta Kisan Morcha and state government employee unions. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Beant Kaur, the SHO of City-2 Police Station, was suspended with immediate effect. The police have booked Kumar under sections 103 (1) (murder), 109 (attempt to murder), 118 (1) (voluntary causing hurt by dangerous weapon or means), 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy), and 3(5) (common intention) of BNS and the Arms Act. The case was registered at the City-2 Police Station on the complaint of Jhota’s father Bhim Singh, an ex-serviceman. In a fresh development, a copy of an arms licence has surfaced on social media, purportedly showing Kumar had two licensed weapons registered in his name – a 7.62 mm pistol and a .12 bore gun.
Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Choudhary told reporters that after gunning down Jhota, Kumar turned his phone off and decamped with the help of Laadi and Vipan. Asked about whom Kumar spoke to on the phone before killing Jhota, the SSP said he made one call to his uncle and four calls to his son. “We are further investigating the matter,” he said. The SSP said police are also investigating how Kumar, who was facing at least five FIRs, procured an arms licence. From whom he got the weapon and how his arms licence was approved, all these things will be investigated,” he told reporters. The pharmacy licence of the medical store, where Jhota was shot, was in Neelam Rani’s name, according to the preliminary investigation. In his complaint, Bhim Singh said his only son was a boxer and cricket player and devoted his life to fighting drugs.
Earlier, the SSP issued the suspension order for Beant Kaur amid demands for action against certain police officers by Jhota’s family members, who continue to decline to perform his last rites till justice is delivered.
