Chandigarh, Nov 6 (PTI) Father of slain anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota on Friday said he has decided to go on a fast demanding the immediate transfer of Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Chaudhary.
He also levelled various allegations against the SSP.
Jhota’s body was brought to PGIMER Chandigarh from Mansa town in the early hours of Friday, after his family ended their 22-day agitation and agreed to a post-mortem following a meeting with Punjab government representatives on Wednesday.
The body, which had been lying at the mortuary of Civil Hospital in Mansa for over three weeks, was taken in an ambulance late on Thursday night.
However, sources said the post-mortem procedure could not immediately begin as various protocols have to be followed, given that the body earlier lay in certain temperature conditions for several days in the Mansa mortuary.
Jhota was shot dead in broad daylight at a medical store in a busy marketplace in Mansa town on October 13. The store owner, who had fired at Jhota after the activist confronted him over the sale of addictive drugs to an elderly man, was subsequently arrested.
Jhota’s father Bhim Singh told reporters at the PGIMER on Friday that the family will head back to Mansa with the body after the post-mortem.
Raising the demand for the Mansa SSP’s transfer, Singh said, “We had raised this demand earlier also. Why is the government not transferring the SSP? The SSP should be transferred before Jhota’s body reaches Mansa. I will not eat anything (until then)…” he said.
He added, “I tell the people of Punjab that if I die today or tomorrow, they should continue the fight against drugs.”
During Wednesday’s meeting with government representatives, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed to seek justice for Jhota had sought the release of two of its arrested members, along with other demands. The arrested JAC members, including Lakhvir Singh alias Lakha Sidhana, were released from the Nabha district jail on Thursday evening.
Jhota’s family, along with the JAC, had been sitting on a protest in Mansa seeking justice for the slain activist.
After a three-week deadlock, a breakthrough came on Wednesday following a five-hour meeting between the protesters and government representatives, who included Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian. PTI SUN VSD RUK
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