Former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigate the drug trade he alleges is being run from inside Punjab's prisons, and that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) follow the money laundering behind it.
The inspector's ₹7.09 crore
At the centre of Jakhar's letter is the 2024 Mansa drug-inspector case. When investigators moved against the inspector, they froze 24 bank accounts holding ₹7.09 crore, recovered ₹1.49 crore in cash and 260 grams of gold, and identified property worth ₹2.40 crore. The state's DGP had described the inspector as the kingpin of a gang that involved traffickers lodged in jail — the very connection Jakhar now wants a central agency to examine.
The reinstatement allegation
Jakhar further alleges — and Awaaz Punjab marks this clearly as an allegation — that after the inspector obtained bail, the AAP government reinstated him to a senior posting at police headquarters. If a man the DGP himself called a kingpin returned to a senior chair, Jakhar argues, the failure is not at the level of the constable but of the government.
A promise for 2027
The letter also carries an election promise: the BJP says that if it is voted to power in Punjab in 2027, it will make the state drug-free by December 2029. The timeline is now on record — with a deadline against which, voters may note, it can one day be measured.
What is solid
- Jakhar has written to Shah demanding NIA and ED probes
- The 2024 case figures: ₹7.09 cr across 24 accounts, ₹1.49 cr cash, 260 g gold, ₹2.40 cr in property
- The DGP described the inspector as kingpin of a gang involving jailed traffickers
- The BJP promise: a drug-free Punjab by December 2029 if voted to power in 2027
What is only claimed
- Jakhar's claim that the drug trade is run from Punjab's prisons at the scale he describes — his allegation, made in a political letter
- The claim that the AAP government reinstated the inspector to a senior HQ posting after bail — an allegation, not an established finding
Compiled from published reports of Jakhar's letter and the 2024 case record, read on 18 October 2026. The figures from the 2024 case are from the investigation as reported at the time; the letter's charges are Jakhar's, and are labelled above as such.