PoliticsPunjab
Punjab hands Parvinder Jhota murder case to CBI after family's demand
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced the transfer hours before Amit Shah arrived in the state to meet families of people killed for speaking out against drugs.
Key points
- Bhagwant Mann said the Jhota murder case will go to the CBI, as the family had demanded.
- Jhota, an anti-drug activist from Mansa, was shot on 13 October and died in hospital.
- His father Bhim Singh had called on the Chief Minister and the DGP to resign.
The Punjab government will hand the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said on Tuesday, giving in to the main demand of the dead man’s family.
“Acceding to the family’s demand, we are handing over this case to the CBI,” Mann wrote on X. He said the government “stood firmly” with Jhota’s father and family, who had been fighting drugs, and added: “Our fight against drug peddlers is decisive.” The state, he said, “will not back down”.
Jhota was shot in Mansa on 13 October, allegedly by the owner of a medical shop he had confronted, and died of his wounds in hospital. The killing set off a Punjab bandh called by farmers’ and workers’ groups on 15 October. Punjab Police, working with Rajasthan Police, arrested the alleged shooter at a dharamshala near the Salasar Balaji temple in Rajasthan.
His father, Bhim Singh, had blamed the administration for failing to prevent the attack and asked for a CBI probe. “Chief Minister and the DGP, if their conscience awakens, they should resign on their own,” he had said.
The decision came on the morning Union Home Minister Amit Shah began a tour of Gurdaspur, Mansa and Sangrur to meet families of people killed after speaking out against drug traffickers. BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu said Jhota’s father had insisted that “if anyone can do justice, it is the CBI”. Punjab minister Aman Arora confirmed the transfer while welcoming Shah’s visit.