A day after acting Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj described slain anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota as a martyr, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami today met his father Bhim Singh and announced that the SGPC would install Jhota’s photograph at the Central Sikh Museum in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.
Dhami also announced financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each for the four persons injured along with Jhota in the attack. Of this amount, Rs 2.5 lakh each would be given towards their treatment expenses and Rs 2.5 lakh each as financial assistance.
Dhami also asked Jhota’s father whether he or the families of the injured wanted to shift them to an SGPC-run hospital for treatment.
Bhim Singh declines SGPC’s offer for aid to Jhota’s sons
The SGPC president further offered to provide Rs 10 lakh each in fixed deposits in the names of Jhota’s two sons, aged around nine and six years, subject to the family’s consent.
However, Bhim Singh declined the offer, saying he had sought financial assistance only for the injured. He said the family had sufficient means to sustain itself with the grace of God.
Notably, the state government has already announced to provide free treatment to the injured, and free accommodation for their families in the hospitals.
Dhami also announced to take care of the upbringing of both the children, but the family informed him that the representatives of Baru Sahib had already announced to bear the educational expenses of Jhota’s sons.
Notably, Bhim is an ex-serviceman and a pensioner, while Jhota’s wife is a teacher. The family runs a dairy and also owns urban property and agricultural land, which Jhota had spoken about in his interviews.
Dhami further expressed solidarity with the family and said the SGPC would stand by it in fulfilling Jhota’s mission to eradicate drugs from society.
Demands of action committee
Four days after the killing, the post-mortem examination of Jhota’s body is yet to be conducted, as his family and supporters continue to demand justice. His body is lying at the mortuary of the civil hospital, where a parallel protest is under way so that the police or administration does not perform the cremation forcibly.
The main protest is being lodged at Tinkoni near the Deputy Commissioner’s residence on Barnala-Sirsa road here.
Meanwhile, the district administration has cancelled the arms licence of Ashwani Kumar, a chemist, who is the main accused in the murder case.
The action committee seeking justice remains firm on its demands, including the resignation of the Chief Minister, the DGP and a CBI probe into the murder. The committee has also demanded the dismissal of the district drug inspector, the SSP, the DSP and the SHO concerned. It has further sought that responsibility be fixed and FIRs registered against officials found accountable. The committee had also demanded compensation from the state government for the four persons injured in the firing incident on Tuesday.
So far, Inspector Beant Kaur, SHO of the City-2 police station, has been suspended.
Another key demand is that a panel of doctors from PGIMER, Chandigarh, should conduct the post-mortem examination.
Jhota was allegedly shot dead by a chemist at his shop in Mansa on Tuesday following a drug-related dispute. The incident was captured during a Facebook Live session. Four others, including a passerby, were injured in the incident.
