Jhota murder: CBI has taken over the case; the stand-off over the activist's body enters a third week

Two weeks after anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh, known as Jhota, was shot dead in a chemist's shop in Mansa, Punjab, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the case and obtained custody of four accused, but his body is still in the Mansa civil hospital mortuary because his family and the Insaaf Committee refuse a post-mortem until Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav resign. Mann said on Monday that the government has accepted "all the legitimate demands" and that the timing of the last rites is for the family and the committee, Hindustan Times reports. The committee says it has had only verbal assurances on most of its 14 demands.

This piece is as of 13:37 IST on Tuesday, October 27. The sources are news reports; allegations by the family, the committee and political parties are attributed to them.

What happened on October 13

Jhota was shot dead on October 13 inside Ashwani Kumar's chemist shop in a busy market near the level crossing in Mansa, while he was streaming a confrontation on Facebook, Hindustan Times and ThePrint (carrying the Press Trust of India, PTI) report. He had questioned Kumar over the alleged sale of addictive drugs without a valid prescription to an elderly man. Four other people were injured. Punjab Police registered an FIR at Mansa City-2 police station on October 14 under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for murder, attempt to murder, causing hurt, criminal conspiracy and common intention, along with provisions of the Arms Act, Hindustan Times reports.

The investigation

• Accused: shop owner Ashwani Kumar, his wife Neelam Rani, and associates Vipin Kumar Garg and "Laadi" (also given as Laddi Singh). According to a court order described by Hindustan Times, Punjab Police arrested Kumar and Garg on October 14, Rani on October 15 and Laddi Singh on October 16. ThePrint (PTI) and The Economic Times say Kumar was taken into custody from Salasar in Rajasthan.
• Handover to the CBI: Mann announced on Tuesday, October 20 that the case would go to the CBI, hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Jhota's family, Hindustan Times reports. The state consented on October 20, the Centre extended the agency's jurisdiction to Punjab the next day, and the CBI re-registered the case on October 21, according to a Hindustan Times report published on October 24. The CBI recorded statements from Jhota's parents and widow at the Mansa circuit house, and sent a team to the homes of Kumar and Garg, Hindustan Times reports.
• Custody: a Mansa court remanded the four to judicial custody until November 5 on Thursday, October 22, Hindustan Times reports. A Hindustan Times report published on October 24 says a Mohali court then gave the CBI five days to question Kumar, Garg and Laddi Singh, with Neelam Rani to be produced on October 27 and the others on October 28. The agency told the court it needed custodial interrogation to establish facts and collect evidence including electronic devices and digital records; the accused's lawyer argued that Punjab Police had already interrogated them.
• Licence and shops: the Punjab Pharmacy Council revoked Ashwani Kumar's pharmacist registration, chairman Sunil Bansal said, per the same report. Special secretary Apneet Riyait, who is leading the state's side of the talks, said licences of three chemists in Mansa were cancelled and one suspended, and four shops sealed, in a drive against unauthorised drug sales, Hindustan Times reports.
• A different CBI case: the CBI is also investigating Rajbir Singh Ghuman, officer on special duty to the chief minister, in an unrelated corruption case that arose from an October 5 High Court order; he was questioned for the third time on October 23, The New Indian Express reports. The report says the allegations remain under investigation and the Supreme Court on October 12 declined to stay the FIR but ordered no coercive action at that stage. It is not part of the Jhota case.

Action against officials

The government suspended Mansa's station house officer, Beant Kaur, two days after the murder following allegations of police negligence, and has also suspended Mansa deputy superintendent of police Harjinder Singh Gill and drug inspector Neeraj Kumar, Riyait said, according to Hindustan Times. That report says it was the first official confirmation of the DSP's and the drug inspector's suspension.

The stand-off over the body

• Talks: a panel of three IAS officers has met the family and the committee three times. After the third round on Friday, October 23, Hindustan Times reports the protesters kept their demand for the resignations of Mann and the DGP as a precondition for an autopsy. Committee member Manik Goyal said the family had accepted the committee's decision that "without the two resignations, Jhota's autopsy and cremation will not be allowed".
• What the government says it has agreed: Riyait said 12 of the 14 demands were accepted, including security for the family, ₹5 lakh for each of the four injured, a CBI investigation, action against unauthorised drug sales, and a recommendation that the trial be fast-tracked; pregabalin capsules will need a doctor's prescription from November 12, Hindustan Times reports. The autopsy would be done at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh once the family agrees, ThePrint reports. The reports differ on a trauma centre in Jhota's name: PTI says officials said it is being met, while Hindustan Times quotes Riyait saying it would be built when such a facility is planned for Mansa.
• What the committee says: Goyal said the panel had given only verbal assurances and that, except for two demands, no official notification had been shared, Hindustan Times reports, and he condemned Mann's statement that demands had been met.
• The family: Jhota's widow, Manpreet Kaur, said the chief minister and the DGP were responsible for the law-and-order situation that led to the murder. His father, Bhim Singh, demanded on October 24 that Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Chaudhary be transferred and refused to attend meetings where the SSP is present, The New Indian Express reports. In a recorded video he alleged that "Jhota was murdered at the behest of the CM, fearing that he would damage their prospects in the upcoming elections", and that the SSP is "the officer at whose behest my son was murdered". These are the father's allegations. The reports read here present no evidence for them and carry no response from the chief minister or the SSP. The CBI case, as reported, names Ashwani Kumar and unidentified persons.
• Mann's reply: speaking in Patiala on Monday, Mann said the government had accepted all legitimate demands and that the decision on the post-mortem and cremation "rested entirely with the bereaved family", The New Indian Express reports in a second report. He also said rival parties were "scared" of AAP's support, Hindustan Times reports.

The protest

The sit-in has run round the clock since October 13 at two places in Mansa, with a dharna at Tinkoni, the main entry to the town, Hindustan Times reports in a report on the protests. On Sunday, October 25, protesters in Mansa and Amritsar burnt brooms, the symbol of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in Amritsar with farm leader Sarwan Singh Pandher's Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) taking part. Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait visited Bhim Singh on October 24 and urged the family to allow the cremation while backing the committee's demands.

On Monday the Mansa Beopar Mandal, whose president Munish Kumar Garg said traders back the protesters, asked them to open one lane of the main road, citing losses to business and noise from loudspeakers, Hindustan Times reports. A group led by Nihangs is camped outside the mortuary to resist any attempt to remove the body, it adds. Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj has asked gurdwaras to hold congregations on October 28 to pray for justice in the case, Hindustan Times reports in its protest report.

The politics

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on October 23 with a four-point memorandum: Mann's dismissal; action against ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats alleged to patronise the drug trade; a Class-I job and ₹2 crore for Jhota's widow, which Badal said the family and committee had not sought; and an extension of the CBI probe to the cases of Gulzar Singh of Toor Banjara and Bikramjit Singh, ThePrint reports, citing the Asian News International (ANI). Badal alleged that the drug mafia has political patronage from the ruling AAP, The Economic Times reports; the reports read carry no AAP response to that. On the two other cases, The Economic Times reports that Gulzar Singh's family alleged he was harassed after questioning Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema about drugs and died by suicide on September 7; that villagers said Bikramjit Singh was targeted for opposing drug peddling; and that police said his murder arose from a scuffle between two groups over a mobile phone.

Shah vowed in Punjab to make the state drug-free by December 31, 2029, The Times of India reports, and drugs have become a central issue for opposition parties ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.

Where reports differ

• Co-accused's name: Hindustan Times gives Vipin Kumar Garg; the ANI text carried by ThePrint gives "Deepan Garg".
• Date of Gulzar Singh's death: The Economic Times gives September 7, ThePrint (ANI) September 8.
• Trauma centre: PTI and Hindustan Times differ on whether it is already being met (see above).
• Demands accepted: the government says 12 of 14; the committee says only verbal assurances, with official notification missing for all but two.

What is not yet known

• Whether and when the family will allow the post-mortem and cremation; the body has been in the mortuary since October 13.
• What the CBI's custodial questioning of the four has produced; no findings were reported in the sources read.
• Whether the CBI will widen its inquiry beyond the four accused or the unnamed persons its FIR mentions.