Dera Baba Nanak (Gurdaspur), October 20: Congress general secretary and Punjab in-charge Sachin Pilot on Tuesday concluded his five-day tour of Punjab in this border town in Gurdaspur district, meeting the families of Ravi Dhillon and the owner of Bedi Medical Store — victims of what he described as brutal killings related to extortion — and saying public confidence in safety and security in Punjab is 'at rock bottom'.

In a post after the visit, Pilot tagged senior Punjab Congress leaders including Pargat Singh, Partap Singh Bajwa, Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. Nation Press also reported that on Tuesday he visited the family of Jagdeep Singh, a government school teacher from Talwandi Malowal in Amritsar who was murdered in broad daylight in June 2026, and demanded accountability from the Aam Aadmi Party government. The specific circumstances of the Dera Baba Nanak deaths remain under investigation.

Pilot's yatra ran from October 16 to 20 and covered Moga, Bathinda, Mansa, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar, according to a Congress release. The party said the purpose was to meet families who have lost loved ones to gangster violence, offer condolences, and carry their demand for justice to the state government.

A day earlier, in Moga district and in a post on X, Pilot said it was heartbreaking to see so many families in Punjab lose their loved ones to extortion, gun violence and drugs, and that addressing these issues requires 'strong leadership, accountable governance, effective law enforcement, and most importantly, the political will to protect Punjab's people and future.' He alleged that killings, encounters, extortion and ransom demands have become extremely common in Punjab — allegations the ruling AAP disputes through its ongoing anti-drug and anti-gangster campaigns.

Pilot also alleged that in one case he raised in Moga, a young man whose father was killed three years ago had received neither justice nor necessary assistance, and that in the murder of a Congress office-bearer most of the accused were out on bail with no substantial action against the main accused after three years. These are Pilot's allegations, reported by ANI; Awaaz Punjab has not independently verified the case details.

The tour puts law and order and drugs at the centre of Congress's pitch ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, on the same day Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also in Punjab meeting families of anti-drug activists. No formal response from the Punjab government or the AAP to Pilot's Tuesday visits and post was reported at the time of writing. (Sources: ANI; Nation Press; Congress release via WebIndia123)