Jhota's killer held in Rajasthan as Punjab shuts down for a day over the Mansa murder

The chemist accused of shooting dead the anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa was arrested in Rajasthan late on Tuesday night, with the pistol police say he used. Punjab is now heading into a day-long shutdown called by Jhota’s father, who says the arrest is not enough.

Ashwani Kumar, who owned the medical store where Jhota was shot during a livestreamed argument on Tuesday morning, is one of two people held so far. The other is accused of helping him escape. Mansa City-2 police registered an FIR on Wednesday on the complaint of Jhota’s father, Bhim Singh, an ex-serviceman. It names Ashwani, two of his associates and an unidentified person who was on the phone with him at the time.

“Ashwani opened fire at my son in front of me,” Bhim Singh said in his complaint. He described seeing his son “soaked in blood, moving towards a shoe store.”

A shop razed, a town on edge

Mansa stayed shut for a second day on Wednesday. A mob that included Nihangs attacked Ashwani’s shop with iron rods, sticks, swords and stones. An earthmover then brought it down and the debris was set on fire before the flames were put out. Police and the ruling AAP said the demolition was carried out by the administration, which also razed the front of Ashwani’s house in Veer Nagar, citing an earlier complaint about illegal construction.

A senior officer said the illegal portion “was to be demolished by the administration, but it went ahead”, which raised questions about whether the scene of the crime had been preserved. Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh, speaking at the protest, asked of the demolition: “Is this the law of any country?”

The store’s record has added to the anger. Mansa’s drug inspector, Naresh Kumar, said the premises had been raided nearly 10 times in four years and the licence suspended three times, but never cancelled. “How was his licence not cancelled?” asked G S Chawla, general secretary of the Punjab Chemists Association.

Jhota’s body is still at the Civil Hospital awaiting a post-mortem. The family wants it done by a panel of doctors from PGIMER, Chandigarh, and says it will not talk to the police or the government without its protest committee. Bathinda Range DIG Harjeet Singh has said action will follow against a DSP and a woman inspector named by the family if the probe finds evidence against them.

The bandh and its backers

Bhim Singh has asked Punjab to shut from 6 am to 5 pm on Thursday, with emergency services exempt. His demands include the resignation of the Chief Minister and the Director General of Police, a CBI probe, the dismissal of the district drug inspector, SSP, DSP and SHO, and disclosure of whom Ashwani was calling during the shooting.

The Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal, Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), the BSP, farm unions and Nihang groups have backed the call. Former Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring called Jhota “a warrior who fought to save younger generations from drugs.” SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded Mann’s resignation.

Mann promises a full probe

Mann has told DGP Gaurav Yadav to investigate whether anyone else was behind the killing. “The main accused has already been arrested within 24 hours,” he said on Wednesday. “A deeply unfortunate incident has taken place in Mansa, and everyone responsible for it will be brought to justice.”

He also warned against the violence that followed. “Those who take the law into their own hands will face stringent action in accordance with the law,” he wrote on X. Mann meets district police and civil officers at Phillaur on Friday to review his government’s anti-drug campaign.

Jhota, a former national-level boxer who overcame his own addiction, leaves behind his wife, Manjeet Kaur, a teacher, and two sons aged nine and six.