CHANDIGARH: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has granted X-category security cover to the families of two Punjab men who had raised their voice against the drug trade and later died — Parvinder Singh Jhota of Mansa and Gulzar Singh of Toor Banjara village in Sangrur district — with CRPF personnel to be deployed for their protection, Mirror Now, TV9 Punjabi and Daily Suraj reported on Friday. Under the arrangement, each family will be provided with three security personnel, Mirror Now reported.

Source: Mirror Now

For the Jhota family in Mansa, the cover has been assigned to the parents of Parvinder Singh Jhota, Mirror Now reported, while Punjabi outlets reported his father and wife among those covered. Jhota, an anti-drug activist, was fatally shot on October 13 while confronting a local chemist who was allegedly selling habit-forming substances. His killing triggered protests in Mansa, and his father Bhim Singh had publicly appealed to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to arrange security for the family, saying his grandchildren were also at risk. The Punjab government handed the murder investigation to the CBI on October 20, accepting the family's central demand.

In Sangrur district, the cover has been granted to the wife of Gulzar Singh, a Dalit daily-wage worker from Toor Banjara village in Dirba who died on September 7, a day after he had publicly questioned Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema about the prevalence of drug sales in the village during a public event on September 6, Mirror Now reported. Following his death, his family alleged that he had been subjected to harassment after the confrontation — an allegation the family has maintained since September.

3Security personnel for each family under the X-category cover, as reported by Mirror Now
2Families covered — Jhota in Mansa and Gulzar Singh in Sangrur
20 OctDay Home Minister Amit Shah met both families in Punjab

Local BJP leader Daman Bajwa confirmed that the security teams had been dispatched to be stationed with the families, and Dirba Deputy Superintendent of Police Rupinder Kaur Bajwa confirmed that local police had received verbal notification from the CRPF regarding the deployment, Mirror Now reported. TV9 Punjabi reported that CRPF personnel were expected to reach the families on Friday, and that Jhota's body remains at the Mansa civil hospital, where the post-mortem has not yet been conducted, as the family's protest continues.

Source: TV9 Punjabi

The decision follows Union Home Minister Amit Shah's October 20 visit to Punjab, during which he met the Jhota family in Mansa and the Gulzar Singh family at Toor Banjara, and also visited the family of Bikramjit Singh, a 40-year-old anti-drug campaigner killed in an ambush in Gurdaspur's Marhi Pannwan village. The Home Ministry had sought detailed reports from the Punjab government on the three cases. No public response from the Punjab government to Friday's security decision had appeared in the reports reviewed at the time of publishing.