Amit Shah says Punjab grappling with drugs and gangsters, MHA to seek state's response on Jhota killing

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that Punjab was “grappling with the rising threats of drugs, gangsterism, and organised crime”, and that his ministry would ask the state government to account for two recent cases.

In a post on X in Hindi, Shah pointed to the killing of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota, who was shot dead in broad daylight in Mansa, and to the case of a father in Dirba who took poison, allegedly under pressure. “The Home Ministry will also seek responses from the Punjab government on both these incidents,” he wrote.

A question for Mann

Shah aimed his remarks squarely at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s Aam Aadmi Party government. The biggest question before it, he wrote, was who would bear responsibility for the safety of Punjab’s people. He said the people of Punjab did not want promises or publicity but answers, results and decisive strikes against drug networks, and pledged that a BJP government would work to make the state free of drugs and gangsters.

Jhota had campaigned against drug sales in Mansa. His father, Bhim Singh, has made serious allegations against the AAP government and one of its MLAs, and has demanded the resignations of the Chief Minister and the state police chief, a CBI investigation and the dismissal of the local police officers.

Where the case stands

Police from Punjab and Rajasthan arrested the alleged shooter, Ashwani Kumar, in Salasar in Rajasthan. He and an associate, Vipin Kumar, have been sent to seven days of police remand, and Ashwani Kumar’s wife, Neelam Rani, has also been arrested. The station house officer of Mansa’s City-2 police station, Beant Kaur, was suspended on Thursday.

The Punjab government had not responded to Shah’s remarks by Friday evening.