Anti-Drug Activist Parwinder Singh Jhota Shot Dead on Camera in Mansa

Parwinder Singh Jhota, an anti-drug activist from Mansa district, was shot dead on Tuesday morning while filming a confrontation outside a medical store. The video, posted live on Facebook, shows Jhota accusing shop owner Ashwani Kumar of selling synthetic drugs to customers. Kumar is seen drawing a pistol and firing. Jhota was taken to hospital and died of his injuries. Kumar remains at large.

Jhota had been posting videos for months in which he confronted shopkeepers he alleged were dispensing addictive pills without prescriptions. In the final recording he notes that Kumar is hiding a weapon behind his back and that an elderly man has just left the shop with drugs. Gunshots follow. Days earlier Jhota had called for a CBI visit to Mansa to investigate the sale of synthetic drugs through medical stores.

The killing has produced immediate political reaction. Opposition parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress, described the murder as evidence of collapsing law and order under the Aam Aadmi Party government. Local groups announced a Punjab bandh for Thursday and began a dharna outside the civil hospital mortuary, saying last rites would not proceed until demands for a CBI inquiry and the resignations of the Director General of Police and the Chief Minister were met. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government has faced criticism that its flagship anti-drug campaign, Yudh Nashean Virudh, has not stopped street-level sales.

Police have registered a case and are searching for Kumar. No arrest has been reported. Jhota had previously been arrested in 2023 on charges that supporters called false. The video of the shooting circulated widely on social media within hours. Further details of the ballistic evidence and the precise number of shots fired have not been released.

The incident returns the issue of synthetic drug sales through licensed medical shops to the centre of Punjab politics ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. Opposition leaders have linked the killing to broader claims that the state’s anti-drug drive has failed to disrupt retail supply chains. The AAP government has not yet issued a detailed statement on the case beyond confirming that an investigation is under way.