CRPF security for Gulzar Singh and Parvinder Singh Jhota families, weeks after Amit Shah’s Punjab visit
Centre gives CRPF security to the families of Parvinder Singh Jhota and Gulzar Singh after Amit Shah’s Punjab visit. Know how both died and what happened next
Mansa/Sangrur: The Centre has provided CRPF security to the families of Gulzar Singh of Toor Banjara and anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota. The decision follows Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Punjab, where he met both families and shared their grief.
How Gulzar Singh died
Gulzar Singh lived in Toor Banjara village in Sangrur district. At a programme attended by Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, he reportedly said his son had fallen victim to chitta, which he claimed was being sold openly in the village. His family and friends say he was then pressured to apologise and that the pressure left him mentally disturbed. He swallowed a poisonous substance and was moved from Sangrur’s government hospital to Patiala, then to a private hospital in Sangrur and finally to DMC Hospital in Ludhiana. However, he died.
The BJP claimed that a video allegedly recorded before his death named the Finance Minister and others. It demanded a CBI probe.
How Parvinder Singh Jhota died
Jhota was an anti-drug activist who was shot dead on October 13 during a confrontation with a medical store owner over the alleged sale of addictive substances. He was killed inside the medical store in Mansa while conducting a Facebook Live session. His family refused to cremate the body in protest, and a suspect was arrested along with a person accused of helping him escape.
Shah’s visit and the CBI announcement
On October 16, Shah said the Home Ministry would seek a response from the Punjab Government over Jhota’s murder. On October 20, he met the family of Bikramjit Singh in Gurdaspur, Gulzar Singh’s family in Sangrur and Jhota’s family in Mansa.
Hours before the visit, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced that, accepting the family’s demand, the Jhota case would be handed to the CBI. Jhota’s father, Bhim Singh, said Shah had come to share their grief and that the family asked for justice and was assured of it. Gulzar’s son, Shahbaz Singh, also said Shah assured the family that justice would be served.