Mann hands over Jhota murder probe to CBI

Mansa: Punjab govt has decided to hand over investigation into the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota to CBI, chief minister Bhagwant Mann announced on Tuesday, only hours before Union home minister Amit Shah was to visit the bereaved family in Mansa. At 9.49am, Mann posted on X: “We stand strongly with Parvinder Singh Jhota’s father and the family who are fighting against drugs.

Accepting the demand of the family, this case is being handed over to CBI. The fight against drugs is decisive, whatever step has to be taken to make Punjab drug-free will be done.”The decision came as a surprise to many as AAP and Mann have repeatedly accused CBI of working for BJP’s political ambitions Jhota’s father Bhim Singh, an ex-Serviceman, has been seeking a CBI probe into the murder.

The family had made it clear it wasn’t happy with the way Punjab Police was handling the probe. On Monday, Bhim Singh had announced that since Punjab govt wasn’t accepting his demand for a CBI investigation, he would raise the issue before Shah during his visit.

The ‘action committee’ formed to fight for justice after Jhota’s murder on Oct 13, too, had been demanding a central probe. On Monday, the high-powered govt committee of three women IAS officers met the bereaved family and action committee members for the first time where Bhim Singh and his daughter-in-law Manpreet Kaur reiterated their demand for a CBI investigation.

The next morning, the CM announced the CBI probe. The central agency is expected to register a fresh FIR and seek the case records from Punjab Police.

Jhota had been relentlessly fighting against those selling drugs, including chemists suspected of illegally selling prescription medicines. It was during one such confrontation, being beamed live on Facebook, that a chemist shot him dead.

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