Anti-drug campaigner Parvinder Singh Jhota was shot dead in broad daylight at a medical store in Punjab’s Mansa town on Tuesday, police said, triggering protests, shop closures and a sharp political fight over the state’s drug crackdown.
According to police, Jhota confronted the store owner, identified as Ashwani, after alleging that intoxicating and prohibited substances were being sold to a customer. Jhota was livestreaming on Facebook; in the video he can be heard saying that the shopkeeper had drawn a pistol before shots were fired.
What police and the hospital said
Bathinda Range DIG Harjeet Singh said information reached police around 10.30 a.m. and that the accused appeared to have used a licensed weapon. Ashwani fled; an accomplice has been arrested. Mansa SSP Vaibhav Choudhary said efforts were on to catch the main accused within 24 hours. The DIG said investigators were also examining whether an old personal enmity played a role.
Jhota was declared brought dead at Mansa Civil Hospital. Senior Medical Officer Dr Gurmail Singh said he had three bullet injuries — two in the abdomen and one in the thigh — and that one bullet had pierced his liver. Four companions, named by police as Kulwinder Singh, Gobind Singh, Baltej Singh and Happy, were treated for lesser wounds.
Who Jhota was
A former boxer, Jhota had for years campaigned against drug abuse in Mansa and nearby areas under the banner ‘Nasha Roko, Rozgaar Do’, often confronting chemists while going live on social media. In July 2023 he had publicly humiliated the same chemist with a garland of footwear over alleged illegal sales; a case was then registered against Jhota and he spent nearly two months in jail before release that September, according to reports revived after Tuesday’s killing. Police say the chemist also faces cases linked to prohibited substances.
Protests and political fallout
Crowds gathered outside the civil hospital. Shops shut in the town, and protesters vandalised the accused’s store, with a large police deployment at the site. Supporters blocked the Barnala–Sirsa road. Jhota’s family refused to cremate the body, blaming the state government for failing to curb substance abuse.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin said the murder exposed poor law and order under the Aam Aadmi Party government. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal demanded Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s resignation. Congress Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said it exposed the gap between the government’s ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virudh’ campaign and ground reality. AAP’s Baltej Pannu said preliminary police information pointed to a personal dispute and stressed that no one had the right to take the law into their own hands. Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon has written to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria seeking a CBI probe, according to news agency reports.
Why it matters
Punjab’s struggle with synthetic drugs sold through some medical stores has long been a central political issue. Jhota’s killing — captured on a livestream and followed by street anger — puts fresh pressure on the government to show that its anti-drug drive also protects whistleblowers. What happens next hinges on a quick arrest of the absconding accused and whether the demand for a central investigation gains traction.
