The Parvinder Singh Jhota case in Mansa intensified on Wednesday after the Punjab government suspended Mansa DSP Harjinder Singh Gill and drug inspector Neeraj Kumar, while Jhota’s widow said the demolition of a medical store linked to the accused had destroyed crucial evidence.
The suspensions were announced amid continuing uncertainty over whether Jhota’s family had consented to a post-mortem. A team from the Central Bureau of Investigation arrived in Mansa after midnight to begin investigations and later met the family, prompting speculation that the post-mortem would be conducted at Mansa civil hospital.
Jhota’s widow, Manpreet Kaur, rejected that suggestion. She said the family had met the CBI team but had not signed any document or given consent for the post-mortem. Kaur said the insaf committee would examine the matter and that any decision would also require the consent of people involved in the protest.
“It pains me that unverified issues are being forwarded without taking a version of the bereaved family or the insaf committee,” Kaur said, according to the report. She said claims that the family had agreed to the post-mortem were untrue.
Kaur also objected to the demolition of the medical store, saying the family had never demanded that the shop or the accused’s home be razed. She described the demolition as equivalent to destroying crucial evidence in the case. The report did not specify when the pharmacy was demolished, which agency carried out the action or whether the premises had been formally secured as part of an investigation.
The latest suspensions follow the earlier suspension of Mansa City 2 police station SHO Inspector Beant Kaur. The actions came after the state government constituted a panel amid the controversy surrounding the case and the handling of the investigation.
A second meeting between the government panel and the insaf committee was held in Mansa on Wednesday evening. The first meeting, held on October 19, had ended without a resolution. The government panel was reported to have agreed to sympathetically consider 12 of the committee’s 14 demands, although neither side publicly explained the details of the discussions.
The meeting was attended by Faridkot divisional commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar, former Mansa deputy commissioner Apneet Riyait, current deputy commissioner Navjot Kaur, Bathinda Range DIG Harjit Singh and Mansa SSP Vaibhav Chaudhary.
The dispute now involves two linked administrative questions: whether the post-mortem can proceed with the family’s consent and how evidence connected to the case will be preserved and examined. The government panel and the insaf committee had not publicly disclosed the outcome of their negotiations when the report was published.
