Chandigarh, Oct 15 : Two days after a medical store owner gunned down anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa, the authorities on Thursday suspended the woman SHO of City-2 police station in the Punjab town with immediate effect.
Mansa SSP Vaibhav Choudhary issued the suspension order for SHO Beant Kaur amid demands for action against certain police officers, including Kaur, by Jhota’s family members, who continued to decline to perform his last rites till justice is delivered.
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.
Ashwani Kumar, the store owner who opened fire on Jhota after he questioned him for selling addictive drugs to an elderly man, was taken into custody from Salasar in Rajasthan.
The incident, which took place while Jhota was hosting a Facebook Live, triggered a political slugfest in Punjab, which goes to polls early next year.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann vowed the strictest punishment for those behind the killing even as opposition leaders claimed there was a complete breakdown of law and order amid a “jungle raj” in the state.
Jhota’s father Bhim Singh, an ex-serviceman, has given a Punjab bandh call on Thursday, with the Congress, Akali Dal, BJP, Akali Dal Waris Punjab De, Samyukta Kisan Morcha and state government employee unions extending support to it.
