On October 13, 2026, anti-drug activist Parminder Singh Jhota was shot dead in Mansa after confronting the owner of a medical store over the alleged sale of addictive substances from his shop. The killing has become the latest flashpoint in Punjab's long drug crisis — and the argument over what it means has only just begun.

A bandh that crossed party lines

Two days later, on October 15, Punjab observed a statewide bandh. The shutdown drew backing from farmer organisations, the SGPC, the BJP and the Congress — bodies and parties that rarely stand on the same side of anything. That breadth is itself a measure of how far the anger over the killing, and over the trade Jhota opposed, has spread.

An arrest in Rajasthan, a suspension in Mansa

Police have arrested the main shooter from Salasar in Rajasthan. In Mansa, the City 2 station house officer, Beant Kaur, has been suspended. The National Human Rights Commission has taken cognisance of the killing.

Two accounts of why he was killed

Police say the motive was personal enmity, pointing to a prior altercation between Jhota and the store owner in July 2023. That account is contested by those who say Jhota was killed for the campaign he ran against the drug trade. Congress leader Sachin Pilot has alleged — and Awaaz Punjab marks this as an allegation, not an established fact — that the medical store in question had been raided 10 times in four years and its licence suspended three times, yet it continued to operate.

This report is compiled from published accounts and official statements on the case, read on 18 October 2026. Where accounts conflict, we print both — and label the one that remains a claim.