Parvinder Jhota’s photo to be put up at Central Sikh Museum in Golden Temple complex; SGPC offers Rs 5 lakh aid to injured
PTC Web Desk: A day after acting Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, called murdered anti-drug campaigner Parvinder Singh Jhota a martyr, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has announced it will place his portrait in the Central Sikh Museum inside the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.
SGPC president Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami announced the decision on Saturday after meeting Jhota’s father, Bhim Singh, at the family’s residence.
Advocate Dhami said the SGPC would give Rs 5 lakh each to the four persons wounded in the attack along with Jhota. Half of this, Rs 2.5 lakh per person, will go towards medical expenses, while the remaining Rs 2.5 lakh will be paid as financial help. He also asked the family whether the injured should be moved to a hospital run by the SGPC.
Family turns down offer for children
Advocate Dhami also offered to set up fixed deposits of Rs 10 lakh each in the names of Jhota’s two sons, who are about nine and six years old, if the family agreed. Bhim Singh politely declined. He said the family had asked for help only for the injured and by God’s grace could manage its own needs.
When Advocate Dhami offered to look after the children’s upbringing, the family replied that representatives of Baru Sahib had already taken on the responsibility for the boys’ education.
Bhim Singh is a retired serviceman who draws a pension and Jhota’s wife works as a teacher. The family also runs a dairy and owns agricultural land and property in the city, something Jhota had mentioned in his earlier interviews.
Advocate Dhami expressed solidarity with the family and said the SGPC would stand with them in carrying forward Jhota’s campaign against drugs.
Post-mortem still pending, protests continue
Four days after the killing, Jhota’s post-mortem has not been carried out. His family and supporters are pressing for justice and his body remains at the civil hospital mortuary. A separate sit-in is being held there to make sure the police or administration does not cremate the body by force.
The main dharna continues at Tinkoni, near the Deputy Commissioner’s residence on the Barnala-Sirsa road.
Meanwhile, the district administration has cancelled the arms licence of chemist Ashwani Kumar, the main accused in the case. Inspector Beant Kaur, SHO of the City-2 police station, has been suspended so far.
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The action committee leading the protest has not softened its stand. Its demands include:
Resignation of the Chief Minister and the DGP
A CBI inquiry into the murder
Dismissal of the district drug inspector, the SSP, the DSP and the SHO concerned
Accountability for officials found at fault, with FIRs against them
Compensation from the state for the four injured
A post-mortem by a panel of doctors from PGIMER, Chandigarh
Jhota was allegedly shot dead by a chemist at his shop in Mansa on Tuesday following a dispute linked to drugs. The attack was caught on camera during a Facebook Live broadcast. Four others, including a passerby, were wounded.
- PTC NEWS
