Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday met the family of Vikramjeet Singh, an anti-drug activist allegedly shot dead after opposing drug trafficking, during his visit to Punjab’s border district of Gurdaspur.
Shah spent around 15 minutes with the family, which is learnt to have submitted a list of demands, including a fair investigation, a government job and financial assistance. The state government also announced that his case would be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), responding to a demand from the family.
Reacting to the state government’s decision, former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar said the government had taken too long to order a CBI investigation. “We request the honorable Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah ji, who is on a visit to Punjab, that now when the CBI investigation begins, it should be conducted on a broader scale and completed within a stipulated timeframe to expose the entire nexus behind it, so that the victims can get complete justice,” he added. The visit is part of the Home Minister’s Punjab tour to meet the families of three people whose deaths have drawn attention to the state’s drug menace. He is also scheduled to meet the family of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa and that of Gulzar Singh in Sangrur. The Union Home Ministry has also sought detailed reports from the Punjab government on the recent deaths. “The Punjab government has finally been forced to bow before public outrage and hand over the investigation of Parvinder Singh Jhota’s murder to the CBI. But this is not just one case. Under the patronage of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, there have been numerous such incidents where drug traffickers have murdered people for raising their voices against drugs or forced them to commit suicide,” Jakhar wrote on X.
