The family feud among leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party took an ugly turn as Ankit Love alleged that the incumbent party president Vilakshan Singh has murdered his mother Jai Mala.
Ankit Love is the son of the founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party (JKNPP) Prof Bhim Singh.
He alleged that his mother, Jay Mala, 64 was assassinated, by his cousins Mrignayani Slathia and her brother Vilakshan Singh on the behest of the BJP.
Love alleged that Vilakshan, who was appointed as president of the Panthers Party after the death of Prof Bhim Singh, was in touch with BJP to ally.
"Jay Mala who was a great proponent of secular values, had been in fierce opposition to BJP, and would not permit accepting such a coalition. On 23 March 2023, she had given a speech to a massive rally of 60,000 people in Udhampur, joined by her choice of coalition partner, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, president of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC)", Love alleged.
Jai Mala's body remained in the mortuary of GMC for 10 days due to a family feud.
Earlier the body of Jai Mala remained at the mortuary of Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu after some members of the family lebelled serious allegations on Mrignayani Slathia with whom Jai Mala was living.
Slathia has accused another nephew of Jay Mala, former J&K minister Harsh Dev Singh, of creating the impasse by posting on social media that there should be a postmortem of the body.
The incumbent president of the Panthers Party Vilakshan Singh had brought the body of Jai Mala to his residence at Sidhra, Jammu, and informed all relatives, including Love, about the death. Soon after, Harsh Dev put up a social media post demanding a postmortem.
While Slathia has accused Harsh Dev of stopping the cremation for his personal and political gain.
According to Slathia, Jay Mala had been staying with her at Domana in Jammu before her death and had taken a fall from the stairs at home on April 25 evening. She died at Government Medical College Hospital the next day, Slathia said.
After Harsh Dev's post, she said, she and her brother took Jay Mala's body back to the hospital the same night and placed it in the mortuary to avoid any trouble from the former minister and his supporters.
Panthers Party split into two groups after the death of Bhim Singh
After the death of Bhim Singh on May 3, 2022, the party had split into two groups. Vilakshan Singh was elected president of the party at a meeting chaired by Jay Mala, but a separate faction that claimed to include all executive members of the party elected P K Ganjoo as its president.
In March this year, P K Ganjoo was expelled from the primary membership of the party on Friday by Ankit Love- chief patron of the Panther Party.
Ganjoo was expelled for spreading miss information and grossly violating the party constitution. Ankit Love further warned any other party members that continue to associate with him are expelled too.
Infighting in the Panthers Party started after the demise of the founder of the party Prof. Bhim Singh who died on May 3, 2022.
A group within the party nominated a prominent lawyer Vilakshan as the new president of the party, and another faction on already announced that P. K. Ganju will function as working president till such time fresh elections are held for the new president.
On June 19, 2022 Panthers Party announced Vilakshan Singh, an advocate as the new president of the party after the demise of Prof. Bhim Singh.
The announcement was made at party headquarters in Jammu after a meeting of the party leaders and members of the Working Committee chaired by Jay Mala, wife of Prof. Bhim Singh and the founder member of the party.
Another faction termed the appointment of Vilakshan Singh unconstitutional and illegal.
Both factions approached the Election Commission to stake claim to the party symbol, but later came together again, with Vilakshan continuing as president and Ganjoo taking over as working president.
