The Punjab government suspended Mansa sub-division Deputy Superintendent of Police Harjinder Singh Gill and Drug Inspector Naresh on Wednesday following mounting public outrage over the fatal shooting of anti-narcotics campaigner Parvinder Singh Jhota.

The administrative crackdown arrived immediately after the Central Bureau of Investigation took formal charge of the murder probe, registering a federal case to unearth whether systematic police neglect and institutional apathy enabled the fatal assault. Jhota was gunned down on camera on October 13 in broad daylight by chemist shop owner Ashwani, who has since been apprehended by law enforcement. The execution-style slaying, captured on video, sent shockwaves through the region and instantly ignited mass demonstrations demanding accountability for state officials who turned a blind eye to brazen illegal narcotics networks.

Neglected Alerts and Collusion Allegations

Before his killing, Jhota had persistently campaigned against rampant illicit narcotics operations across Mansa, repeatedly lodging detailed complaints with district enforcement authorities. His grieving family revealed that both DSP Gill and Drug Inspector Naresh had received explicit, repeated warnings regarding illicit pharmaceuticals and drug distribution rackets operating openly under their jurisdiction. Rather than initiating sweeping raids or safeguarding the crusader, officials took no discernible action, directly leaving Jhota exposed to lethal retaliation from the entrenched local drug syndicate.

Prior to the punitive action against Gill and Naresh, local authorities had already suspended the area police station in-charge, Station House Officer Beant Kaur. The back-to-back suspension of three high-ranking local enforcement figures underscores the shocking extent to which warnings were disregarded at multiple administrative tiers while illicit drug vendors continued business uninterrupted.

Federal Intervention and Escalating Political Fallout

The case escalated into a major political confrontation after Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the region and met with Jhota’s relatives alongside families of other targeted activists. Confronted with massive civil unrest and allegations from opposition parties regarding the breakdown of law and order, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced that the state would transfer all case files to the central agency for an unhindered inquiry.

"The government stood with Jhota’s family and remained committed to its fight against drug traffickers."

Mann maintained that the state administration would not shield any official found colluding with the narcotics ecosystem. Meanwhile, leaders across the opposition spectrum asserted that an independent CBI probe was the only viable mechanism to unmask potential administrative collusion, claiming that local departments were fundamentally incapable of investigating their own senior officers.

CBI Scrutinizes Systemic Administrative Failures

CBI investigators have already initiated preliminary proceedings, conducting extensive depositions with Jhota’s immediate kin in Mansa. Federal sleuths are examining whether official inaction constituted dereliction of duty, deliberate concealment, or deep-rooted administrative compromise designed to protect influential peddlers.

With national attention focused on Mansa, the federal probe serves as a crucial test of whether the justice system can dismantle the nexus between enforcement officials and criminal syndicates, or whether whistleblowers who challenge the drug empire will continue to face deadly consequences.