Mansa: A mob took over the demolition of a medical store owned by Ashwani Kumar, accused of killing anti-drug campaigner Parwinder Singh Jhota, after a JCB machine brought by the administration had pulled down part of the structure in Mansa on Wednesday.The mob razed the remaining portion and set the shop on fire as a heavy police deployment watched.The crowd pushed aside the administration’s efforts to control the demolition, with people entering the weakened structure despite the risk of it collapsing. They threw medicines out of the shop before setting it ablaze, raising slogans of “Bole So Nihal”. The JCB was moved away as the crowd took charge of the demolition.During the episode, a man in the crowd displayed pregabalin capsules, which he claimed were among the prohibited substances Jhota had campaigned against. The crowd applauded as he held up the capsules, arguing that Jhota’s campaign against the sale of such substances was not driven by personal enmity with the shop owner, contrary to claims by the authorities.Earlier, amid rising anger among protesters, the district administration and police had brought JCB machines to demolish Kumar’s house on Gurdwara Road and his shop near the railway tracks. After a portion of the shop was demolished, the crowd took over and brought down the remaining structure.Protesters said the action amounted to “people’s justice”, alleging that the state govt had failed to deliver justice. Bathinda DIG Harjit Singh said the demolition had been carried out after completing the required legal formalities.
