Mansa Deaths & Drugs Menace Occupy Centerstage

November

2026

While anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota's body awaits cremation, another young man, 35-year-old Daljit Singh from Bhamme Kalan village, Mansa district, died of drug overdose on 27 Oct. Initially, Daljit's family staged a dharna on the Mansa-Sirsa road demanding justice and arrest of drug peddlers. Later, they decided to take the body of the deceased to Jhota Insaaf Morcha (Jhota Justice Front), where Jhota’s family is sitting in vigil over his body. The police stopped the protesters at Ramdittewala crossing, Mansa and forcibly snatched the body of the deceased youth. The police later claimed Daljit was murdered and pressured his family to agree to a post-mortem and cremation. The family refused. As supporters gathered, police detained activists Lakhvir Singh Sidhana alias Lakha Sidhana, Bhagwan Singh Sidhu alias Bhana Sidhu, Mohanjeet Singh Sheoran, and Punjab Students Union leader Arvinder Kaur Azad. On 29 Oct, the court remanded Sidhana and Sheoran to custody for four days. The police have registered two First Information Reports—one for Daljit’s murder and another for an attempt to murder over the attack on the police team. The police have temporarily deployed three Superintendents of Police in Mansa and transferred two Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSP), besides appointing a replacement for a DSP who was recently suspended. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has assigned X-category security cover to the families of Jhota and Glulzar Singh of Toor Banjara village, Sangrur. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Panjab Chief Secretary and Panjab Director General of Police to inquire into the circumstances leading to the suspicious death of Daljit Singh from Mansa, and submit an action-taken report within two weeks. Farmers' union Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) has started agitations outside 48 police stations demanding Daljit's body be returned to his family. Meanwhile, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau has filed a chargesheet against Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia and 12 others in a disproportionate assets case. While Majithia termed the chargesheet a 'bundle of lies', the ruling Aam Aadmi Party leaders linked it to solving the state’s drug menace. Furthermore, the Panjab cabinet has approved establishing 35 exclusive special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances courts across the state to fast-track trials and clear a backlog of 52,577 cases (earlier coverage).