The Punjab government has suspended Mansa deputy superintendent of police Harjinder Singh Gill and drug inspector Neeraj Kumar in connection with the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota, adding to a series of administrative actions sought by the Insaf Committee campaigning for justice.
The suspensions were announced on Wednesday after a second meeting between the state government-appointed panel and the Insaf Committee in Mansa. The development follows the suspension of Mansa City-2 station house officer Inspector Beant Kaur on October 15, two days after Jhota was murdered.
According to the Times of India report, the action against the DSP and drug inspector was among the demands raised by the committee during discussions with the government panel. The committee has been pressing for measures it says are necessary to secure accountability in the case.
The first meeting between the two sides, held on October 19, ended without a conclusion. The Punjab government announced an order for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe the following morning. The second meeting was attended by Faridkot divisional commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar, Mansa deputy commissioner Navjot Kaur, her predecessor Apneet Riyait, Bathinda Range deputy inspector general Harjit Singh and Mansa senior superintendent of police Vaibhav Chaudhary.
Sources cited in the report said the government panel had agreed to consider 12 of the Insaf Committee’s 14 demands. The suspensions of Gill and Kumar formed part of the demands under consideration, although the report did not specify the remaining measures or whether they had been accepted in full.
The meeting’s participants did not publicly disclose details of the discussions. Neither the government panel nor the Insaf Committee provided information on what transpired during the second meeting, according to the report.
The sequence of action places the suspensions within a wider response to the killing: the initial suspension of the Mansa City-2 SHO, the state government’s decision to order a CBI investigation and the subsequent action against the district police and drug-enforcement officials. The measures have emerged as the committee continues negotiations with the government over its demands.
The CBI probe and the government panel’s consideration of the remaining demands are the next formal developments to be followed in the case. The supplied report does not provide details of the probe’s start date or its terms of reference.
