The Punjab government has suspended Mansa deputy superintendent of police Harjinder Singh Gill and drug inspector Neeraj Kumar following the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota, according to a report by the Times of India. The action came as a state-appointed panel held a second meeting with the Insaf Committee, which has been seeking accountability and justice in the case.
The suspensions were among the demands raised by the Insaf Committee, a group formed to pursue action after Jhota’s death. Mansa City-2 station house officer Inspector Beant Kaur had already been suspended on October 15, two days after the murder, the report said.
The latest government action followed a meeting in Mansa on Wednesday evening between representatives of the committee and senior officials. The 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.
The state government formed the panel to engage with the Insaf Committee over its demands. The committee’s first meeting with the panel, held on October 19, ended without a resolution, according to the report. The government announced an order for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe the following morning.
The Times of India report said the government panel had agreed to consider 12 of the committee’s 14 demands, although neither the committee nor the administration released details of the discussions at Wednesday’s meeting. The report also said the suspension of the DSP and the drug inspector formed part of the demands being considered.
The suspensions place the functioning of local policing and drug-control administration at the centre of the continuing response to Jhota’s murder. The action follows the earlier suspension of the Mansa City-2 SHO and the decision to order a CBI investigation, creating multiple layers of administrative and investigative response to the case.
No information was publicly provided in the report on the specific allegations or administrative findings involving Gill and Kumar. The state panel and the Insaf Committee also did not disclose the outcome of the second meeting or set out the next steps on the remaining demands. The CBI probe and further discussions between the government and the committee remain the next stated developments in the case.
